Shin no Chikara
by JadeWing
Summary: It all starts when Yelan invites Sakura to Hong Kong so she can receive formal training, but the summer trip quickly turns into something longer--and more deadly...
1. Invitation to the Game

Shin no Chikara 

Chapter One: The Invitation to the Game

Hi everybody! This is actually just the first part to a really long (at least, it's long for me) fic, and it's set right after Sakura's changed the last of the cards. The problem is that if Li had already told her his feelings, this fic wouldn't exist, so I've meddled with things a little. First, Eriol is now gone and everything is back to normal. Second, the second movie never happened. For those of you who don't know about it, just forget what I said and go find a summary; it's major kawaii. Third, Li has not gotten the courage to tell Sakura the way he feels yet, and he hasn't left yet, so there's a bit of awkwardness. I'd like to apologize for a couple of things: first, I'm a bad, lazy girl, and Syaoran takes much longer to type than Li so I'm using the American names. Second, I've held long, long searches, but I haven't really found Sakura's incantation to change the Key of Star to the Star Wand (is it even called that, or am I way off? Help!), so I'm improvising and using the American incantation. I'm sorry! Don't kill me! Third, I'm not sure what time of the year the first movie happens in, but pretend it's either winter or fall because Li and his family have to have a summer home or this won't work. Last of all, if you are looking for a short and sweet fic, this is not it. Sure, there's a lot of humor, but there's a lot of seriousness. This chapter is just sort of a setting-setter and is made mainly to get the

situation(s) established, but further on, this touches on serious subjects like who Sakura really is and whether Li can learn to accept that or not. I'm not saying that this is a bittersweet fic (there's usage of the phrase shut your piehole' later on, and it does not come from Li), but it is pretty serious at times. Oh yeah, and there's always this one phrase in each chapter. I didn't notice the pattern until I'd almost finished writing this, and so it's sort of a joke. If you think you've spotted it, e-mail me and I'll let you

know if you got it. 

P.S. The POV switches occasionally, like in "the things i do for love", although not at all in this chapter. You'll see whose perspective it's written from in the corner.

[AN]= Author's Note

Disclaimer: 

::steals scripts from Nelvana:: BURN IT! BURN IT!!! BURN THIS TRASH! Honestly, this actually isn't much better, but if I had my way this would be a fourth season! YEAH BABY!....::sighs:: It sucks, but sadly, I don't own Cardcaptors, CardCaptor Sakura, or anything...my life is useless...I think I'm gonna cry.....

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****

Sakura

"Sakura!" Dad yelled up the stairs as I broke out of my daydream, startled. The mid-June heat was making me drowsy, and I blinked dreamily. "Mail for you!"

That caught my attention, and I jumped off the bed. Pounding down the stairs, I retrieved it with a hurried "thanks" and dashed back up. Flopping onto my bed once more, I looked at the return address and saw it was from Hong Kong. I slit the envelope and pulled out three crisp sheets of paper. The first one was dated June 13th, a week ago. It read:

__

Dear Sakura, 

Congratulations on turning the last of the cards to Sakura Cards. Eriol has informed me that it took much effort on your part, and I am very pleased in your progress. I haven't forgotten how bravely you fought when we last met.

It was brought to my attention that while you have exceedingly strong powers you have never received formal training. I thought you might like to stay with us at our summer home outside of Hong Kong to study elemental magic and the martial arts. If you do, tell Li and he'll pass it on to me. All expenses including airfare will be paid. The other two letters are for Li and your father. I certainly hope you can come. The last time we met, I didn't have enough time to get to know you as well as I wished to. My daughters are staying in Hong Kong, but Mei Lin is very eager to see the both of you.

-Yelan 

I wanted to sing for joy. Of course I'd go! All those times I'd watched enviously while Li used his magic with elements, but now Li's own _mother_ was going to teach me. And I knew Dad couldn't say no, whatever Yelan would tell him. He'd been saying that he wanted me to see more of the world, but the problem was that I couldn't go alone, and we didn't have the kind of money for all of us to take a vacation.

"Dad!" I hollered as I ran down the stairs once more, the letter clutched tightly in my hand. "You've got to read this!" I careened into the kitchen and thrust it in his face. Shifting from foot to foot anxiously, I waited as he scanned the page and finally looked up. "Well," Dad said, "it sounds like a good program. If you're sure you want to spend your summer as an exchange student, I highly encourage you." He paused as I realized that Yelan had said I would be an exchange student. "I think it'll be a wonderful way for you to observe cultures other than our own." 

"Really? I can go?" At his nod, I jumped up and down, cheering, then ran upstairs and phoned Madison. "Guess what."

"What?"

"I'm going to Hong Kong for the summer!" I yelled into the phone. A second later, my eardrum was shattered by her shriek of envy. "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sakura, you lucky _dog!_ I wish I could come, although I'll bet you want to spend some quality time with Li, don't you?"

I responded with a very rude suggestion, and she brushed it off, offering to design my whole wardrobe. I politely declined. We chatted for a few minutes more, then I remembered I had to give Li his letter still and said goodbye. Slipping on my jacket, I told Dad I was going for a walk and went outside, debating whether to use the Fly card or not. The night was cool and clear, and no one seemed to be roaming the streets, so I pulled it out. It was easier to ride the wand than actually have wings myself, so I chose the former. Soon I was soaring above the city, free as a bird. It was actually a spectacular view from my position. I had never noticed, because I was too busy capturing or changing a card at the time, but Eriol was gone, the Cards were changed, and I was actually free from their constraints for once. The passing breeze tugged at the letter in my hand, reminding me of my duty, so with a sigh I alighted in an alley near Li's apartment and changed the wand back to my key, tucking it under my shirt at the same time. Ascending the stairs, I noticed that the envelope trembled in my tightly clenched, suddenly sweaty fist, but I ignored it and rang the bell. Li answered the door immediately, his eyes questioning. "I felt something. Did you use magic?" 

I nodded. "I got a letter for you."

"Who's it from?" he asked as he took the envelope. Our hands brushed and my stomach twinged, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Your mother."

Li scanned the page quickly, then looked up. "Are you coming?"

"What? Oh, yeah." 

"Good. She thought so." He paused, then added, "Do you want to tell her in person?"

"Sure."

"Come in." He turned and retreated down a hall as I stepped inside and waited, uncomfortable. A few seconds later he returned, tossing a shiny orb from hand to hand. It was about eight inches wide, and looked like crystal. Inside there were twin streaks of dark brown and orange, followed by thick stripes of indigo, silver edged in turquoise, hints of yellow, red-orange, gold, and wine red. A smaller ball of white fire burned fiercely in the very center. "I want to speak with my mother," he commanded. It faded to white, then showed Yelan's face where the fire had been. 

"Li, Sakura, hello," she said cordially. "You received my letter."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Yes, and I'd love to come. Dad said it would be fine with him."

"Wonderful. Hold on, and I'll send you your tickets." She turned away and a moment later two slips of stiff paper fell to the ground above the sphere. "The plane departs ten o' clock on Monday. Wei will meet you at the airport. Give my greetings to Keroberos and Yue if you see him." Her face faded from the orb, and a second later the colors returned, swirling as fast as ever. I bent and picked up a ticket, then stuttered a confused "O-okay, I'll s-see you Monday, then," and practically sprinted out of the door.

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I woke up unusually early on Monday morning. Madison had insisted on dragging me to the mall and buying me at least one outfit, but I had a say in it so it looked pretty normal. In fact, it was basically a school uniform, but without the hat and school seal on the arm and in red and white. I liked it, but couldn't decide what to do with my hair. We were leaving at 9:30, and I had woken up at 8:00 (yes that was early, by my standards!) so I showered, dressed, spent an hour messing with my hair and then pulling it into the standard pigtails and dashing down to scarf breakfast five minutes before we left. I had heaved my suitcases in the trunk when Dad came out and said, "Are you ready, Sakura?" After wheezing on the side of the car for a moment, I gasped out, "Y-yes...." and dragged myself into the seat. (Yes my suitcases were really that heavy!) We arrived on time and paid a baggage carrier very well to take my luggage away, then went down to the gate. After pointing out Li to Dad, I gave him a last hug and walked over to join Li, saying cheerfully "Hey!" 

"Did you remember your ticket?" he asked, a touch of rue masking any other emotions in his voice. It wasn't exactly the greeting I was hoping for, but that was life.

"Yes, I did," I retorted, pulling it out of my daypack. "Seat A-12."

"I've got B-12," he said carelessly. Neither of us talked much, and so it was a rather tense half an hour wait until the plane started boarding. I noted with some interest that a man was allowed to bring his guitar (in its case, of course) on board. Then we were at the gate and a cheerful-looking young woman was asking, "Is your mom or dad coming with you two?" as she checked off my ticket. 

"Oh, no," I exclaimed. "We're exchange students and aren't related at all."

"Oh, I see," she said, adding in a stage whisper loud enough for anyone to hear within ten feet of us, "Good thing, then. Lucky girl, he's a real cutie!"

All I could do was pick up my bags, face burning, after having a strange noise emerge from the depths of my vocal chords.

Looking behind me, I saw that poor Li had heard, because he was blushing too. I walked very fast down the tunnel, trying to put as much distance as possible between Li and me. I had settled down in my seat (I got the window) and was rummaging through my daypack for any form of entertainment when I looked over to the seat next to me and found him sitting there. His voice echoed in my head as I remembered him saying, "I've got B-12," in response to me. It was all I could do to keep from making another strange noise as I turned back to the window and stared outside. A sudden thump made me look over to see the man loading his guitar into the compartment across from our seats. I weakly tried to strike up a conversation, but it lasted all of ten seconds. _That's me, conversationalist extraordinaire, _I thought sarcastically to myself. The fact that we had nothing to talk about–except for the cards, of course–was in itself fairly pathetic. 

I was saved from total disintegration by the takeoff fifteen long minutes later. Flying always made me happy, because I got to see the world from a bird's eye view in the daytime, and not just at night. The scenery had my face pressed to the window for the next fifteen minutes straight. Even Li was mildly impressed, and it gave us something to talk about. Once the ice was broken, I found out a lot about Li that I hadn't known before, like the fact that math was his second least favorite subject too. We both had an interest in ancient and/or foreign cultures and were arguing the similarities of deities (I had

picked up way too much from dad on that for a normal thirteen-year-old) when the PA system crackled to life. The captain said that there would be some turbulence up ahead, but by no means would we crash.

Sure enough, as soon as the speaker clicked off, the plane started trembling, then lurched from side to side. It was like being in an earthquake, and almost fun. I had just regained my balance when the plane jerked left a final time. Hearing a snap, I looked up and saw the overhead compartment fly open. The guitar flew out and headed straight for Li. I shrieked, "Li, look out!" and just as he turned towards me, confused, shoved him out of his seat and into the aisle. It narrowly missed him and hit the armrest with a crack, sliding down to the floor. Seconds later, the cabin door burst open and several stewardesses dashed out. One of them hurried over to us and asked, "Is everyone all right? We heard a scream!"

Li got up, eyeing the fist-sized dent in the armrest. "Yeah, thanks to Sakura. She pushed me out of the way."

"That's a relief," the stewardess said with a smile. She paused, thinking for a moment, then added, "I think we'll move you up to first class as an apology, no charge. Sound good?"

My heart was still pounding too hard for me to speak, but I fortunately could still nod and did so emphatically. Within moments, we were seated in comfortable, cushy seats and sipping Pepsis from wineglasses. The captain himself even came to apologize for the accident and commend me on my quick thinking. For the rest of the flight we got excellent service. "Gee, " I muttered to Li, "you should nearly get killed by flying guitars more often."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wei met us at the gate and escorted us to the baggage claim. Luckily, Dad and Yelan had insured' that our luggage wouldn't be lost, so we picked it up with minimal fuss. Soon we were in a taxi and on our way to Li's summer home. I had never been there before, but I knew that if it was anything like their home in Hong Kong it'd be huge. 

I was right. As we sped along the road, I saw distant rooftops and realized they were the rooftops of the mansion. Sadly, they were all I saw for a while, because the view was blocked on the most part by forest. It didn't take us long to reach the home, but it sure felt long to me.

The minute Li stepped out of the car, the mansion door flew open and I got a glimpse of long dark blue hair before he staggered back. Getting out, I saw Mei Lin hanging from his neck-literally. Li was actually starting to turn blue, so I tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Hey, remember me?"

It worked, sort of. Mei Lin immediately released Li, turned around, squealed "Sakura!" and hugged _me_ so hard I couldn't breathe.

"Mei Lin, I don't think we want Sakura dead," came a familiar voice, commanding and calm yet with a touch of good humor. Mei Lin let go right away and grinned as Yelan descended the steps of the mansion regally. Her expression was emotionless, but her dancing eyes betrayed her as she added, "It's good to see you again, Sakura."

I smiled enthusiastically. "It's wonderful for you to invite me here!"

She smiled back and motioned for me to come inside the house. "I'll show you to your rooms."

"Room_s?_" I asked as I followed her, suitcases in hand.

"Yes. My daughters stayed in Hong Kong, and the house is so large that there is more than enough room. Every guest has multiple rooms with no exceptions." She halted in front of a door that had my name carved into a nameplate. It was bordered in white cherry blossoms, and the letters were green. Yelan pushed the door open, and I gasped.

The walls of the first room were covered in an enormous mural of a Koi pond shadowed by a blooming cherry tree. There were several chairs and a table set around a small koi pond that was actually set in the stone-covered floor. It was fed by a small fountain that flowed from the wall, and there was even a small bridge going over it. Two doors were set in one of the walls. 

Yelan's voice was the only thing that tore my attention away from that room. "I think I'll let you settle in. Dinner will be at seven. There's a map of the house in your bedroom, as well as information on your rooms. Training starts tomorrow morning at seven. If I were you, I'd wake up at 6:30." She put her hand on my shoulder, said, "We're very glad to have you here," and left.

I was still speechless over the first room. It was easily the size of my house's first story, and very awe-inspiring. It took me a few seconds to recover and set down my suitcases. Anticipation rose in me as I imagined what my bedroom would be like, but when I went in I was disappointed. Everything was white-the walls, the ceiling, the floor, even the bed and the furniture. Only the size was remarkable, along with the strong sense of magic in everything. There were two large windows set into the walls, also. Looking out, I saw the landscape spread out for miles around. It took me a minute to see the small stack of papers on my bed, but when I did I picked them up and found they were information and instructions about each room, along with a map of the house. Looking at the first one, I saw that it was titled "Bedroom."

**__**

BEDROOM

Your bedroom is like most of the rooms in this house. It is enchanted so that you can decorate and color it as you choose to. Just touch an object and either name a color or picture a pattern in your mind and it will transfer to where you want it.

****

Specific Objects

Bed–name how big you want it, four post or not, headboard style or no headboard at all, and how many pillows and blankets you want. For colors or patterns, use the process above.

Floor–snap your fingers and you will get a piece of chalk. If you want a pond, draw it on the floor, and draw a bridge over it if you want. Touch it within the border and say, "Pond," and it should appear. For the floor covering, touch it and say carpet, hardwood, stone, or whatever you want. 

Shelves–if you want a shelf or two use the chalk from the pond and draw a line on the wall for as long as you want it. Even if it isn't perfectly straight and/or parallel to the ground, the actual shelf itself will be.

Ceiling–for this, all you have to do is select a time of day and say it out loud. The ceiling will show the sky at that time. It works best if you say dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, sunset, twilight, or midnight. Also, midnight has an adjustable moon.

All of these features can be adjusted at any time and are not permanent. You are the only one who can change them as long as you stay here.

I set it down with a thrill. This would be so cool! I especially loved the ceiling idea and wanted to test it out. "Midnight, crescent moon." The ceiling turned black, with a sliver of white and tiny pinpricks of stars appearing a second later. I set it on noon and started changing the room. I was done in about an hour. Standing back, I admired my handiwork. My room at home was very girly and cute, but this one was much more elegant and simple. The walls were a pearly white with a full-length mirror on one of them. The floor was stone, with a pond in the corner and an Oriental rug covering most of the rest. The furniture consisted of a bed, a bookcase, two armchairs, a coffee table, a very big wardrobe, a desk, and a bedside table. Everything was made of pine wood. The bed had a canopy of snowy white linen bordered in evergreen. There was a deep green comforter with white linen sheets and four fat pillows, two green and two white, on the bed itself; and the headboard was made of exquisitely carved ebony. The walls, though, were difficult. Pearly white was too plain, so I walked over and put my hand on one. After trying dozens of colors and patterns, I settled on another mural that depicted more blooming cherry trees. An idea formed in my mind, and I pictured the same mural in my mind, only with the petals drifting slowly to the ground. The walls obeyed, and I was immediately surrounded by a blizzard of flower petals. 

Satisfied, I moved into the bathroom and was yet again amazed. One wall was covered entirely by a mirror, another lined with cabinets. There wasn't one bathtub; there was three. That is, if a swimming pool, and a hot tub could be classified as a bathtub. The swimming pool was forty feet long and fed by a spring in the wall. The water was slightly cooler than room temperature in the pool, but the spring itself was icy. The bath and hot tubs were larger than usual, and one of the cabinets proved upon inspection to be stocked with and impressive selection of bubble baths. The others contained towels, bathrobes, shampoo, soap, and more.

Feeling rather overwhelmed, I went back to unpack my clothes. As I was hanging the last skirt in the wardrobe when a bell rang. Figuring it was the doorbell, I ran to answer it.

Mei Lin stood in the doorway. Surprisingly, a globe like Li's hovered over her shoulder. Mei Lin's, though, had stripes of orange-red, indigo, silver, turquoise, clear, and orange. "May I come in?"

Surprised, I nodded. "Sure, make yourself at home."

Mei Lin entered, closing the door behind her. Taking the chair I offered her, she sat down. I waited as she stared at the mural like it would show her a solution to some unknown mystery. I was about to say something when she abruptly turned to me and said, "You like him, don't you?" 

"What?"

"You like Li. Don't deny it; I could tell even before I left." Seeing my confused blush, Mei Lin continued, "You were always concerned about his safety whenever you were catching a card, and I was always there in gym when you did an advanced move just to impress him." 

I started to protest, then fell silent as I put together the pieces and realized she was right. It all fit–how I always looked for him out of the corner of my eye, the way I noticed there were always a few strands of hair over his eyes, how whenever he approved of something I did my heart warmed (along with my face). Covering my face with my hands, I hung my head and moaned, "But I'm too young for this...I'm only thirteen, it's not fair!"

Mei Lin patted my back. "Sakura, it's okay. I didn't come here to make you feel bad."

Suddenly I realized that Mei Lin might not have been too happy about possible competition. "But-aren't you–like, jealous–or–orwhat?"

"No." She smiled crookedly. "I can't be jealous over someone I don't love. Or at least, not as a crush."

At my dumbfounded expression, she continued, "Li's more like a brother to me. A prideful, stubborn, and on occasion incredibly _stupid_ brother, but a brother nonetheless. When I came to Readington, I wasn't concerned about you stealing him, I was concerned about you _hurting_ him."

"What-but I'd never ever do anything to hurt Li!" I blurted out. Reddening, I added, "And I seriously doubt I could!"

"Don't be too sure. Li may seem as cold and hard as a stone wall, but deep underneath that icy exterior–very, very deep–there's a pretty nice guy."

"But–but why are you telling me this?" I stammered.

"Because I want you to know that if you two are going to pair up, I won't be getting in the way any time soon. Unless I'm very mistaken, that's partially why Yelan invited you here. I know she wants to keep strong magic in the bloodline." I blushed as she added, "Speaking of Yelan, she sent me here to tell you now would be a good time to get you a protection sphere, though there's no big rush."

"A what?"

"A protection sphere," Mei Lin said, gesturing at the globe hovering over her shoulder. "She knows more about em than I do. All I know is that their appearance is caused by your strongest qualities or something like that. Come on, I'll take you to her." 

I followed her as she deftly wove through the halls and arrived at last at a door that bore the title "Workroom." Mei Lin tapped on the door and pushed it open.

Yelan was seated inside. She smiled when she saw us and said, "Good. I assume you don't know about protection spheres?" I shook my head and sat on the cushion she offered me. A moment later, she had pulled out a piece of paper and offered it to me. I took it as she said, "The first protection sphere was created by Clow Reed. We don't know everything about them because he only stumbled onto the spell and left few documents about them, telling no one of his discovery. No one knows all they can do. They're used for determining a Clan child's personality and magic potential. They can also produce clothing and food, provide a shield against minor magic, store items, provide light, hide you from detection, open a communication link between two or more people with spheres of their own, and show an image when commanded to."

Looking down at the paper, I realized it was a chart of colors and what they represented. "Does this chart apply to the stripes in a sphere?"

Yelan nodded. "Every Clan member's sphere's colors are written down in the Hall of Records. Certain colors mean certain qualities a person has. For instance, Mei Lin's sphere has orange-red, indigo, silver, turquoise, clear, and red stripes. The orange-red, indigo, turquoise, and silver are her most distinguishing personality traits. Orange-red is passion, indigo is determination, silver is courage, and turquoise is pride. The clear indicates that she has no magic. Orange is for her element–water, earth, air, or fire. Li is unusual in the fact that he has two equal elements, fire and earth. A person's

element and their personality correspond, and Mei Lin's is fire."

I glanced down at the chart again. "There's no green, " I said, puzzled.

"No one has ever had green stripes. No magic, trait, or element has matched it." Yelan shrugged. "Anyway, we need to get you a sphere so we can see exactly which magics you have. Hold out your hand." She took my outstretched palm and held her hand over it, eyes closed and brow furrowed in concentration. "Earth, fire, water, air, I call upon your force. Protection of the spirits, tears of the sea, blood of the earth, heart of the fire, song of the winds, I call you by the name of Sakura. Show the true form!"

Wind shrieked around us, forming a funnel. Something seemed to run out of my through my arm and pool in my hand like rainwater. Brief dampness brushed my face, followed by swift, intense heat and then something that felt smooth and rough and cool and warm all at once. White, red, blue, and dark brown light swirled into a ball above my palm and exploded in a silent flash. I watched a sphere, dancing with color, drop into my hand through watering eyes. At the very center I saw a ball that burned a fierce green. Indigo, magenta, and silver hi-lighted in purple twined around eachother and streamed around the globe. They were followed by streams of white, wine red, and gold. Under that, four streams of white, blue, orange, and dark brown wove and darted around eachother. I looked at Yelan.

Her face was pale as death, with huge eyes and mouth hanging open. With a start, she shook her head as though to clear it and said, "That was _not_ supposed to happen. Let me see that sphere."

When I handed it to her, her eyes widened again. "Gods above-you have green. And in innercore form, too." She absentmindedly traced the path of the white and gold streaks. "Clow and elemental, too. Like Li. Prophecy...unsurprising." She paused at the four-color braid and sucked in breath. "Oh." Yelan glanced up at me and nodded to herself. "It makes sense." I couldn't contain myself. "What makes sense?"

"This." She tapped the swirling colors. "Sakura, you have all four elements. No one ever had all four elements, not even Clow Reed. I should have guessed, though. Your personality reflects those. The fire in you makes you passionate about the things you care for, the earth in you keeps you in reality, despite the air making you occasionally dreamy, shy, and flighty. The water is what makes you so easily adaptable to change, because it in itself changes so easily."

"Oh." I was surprised, to say the least. "What about the green?"

"That is the most perplexing of all. It's inner core, which means it's a magic you have. Inner core is even rarer than double elements, and it means that your heart, your being, your very soul is deeply magical. It's a sign that your magic is very concentrated and amazingly strong. Clow Reed had innercore gold, his own form of magic. But green... that's unknown territory. Can you actually feel the magic inside you, like the Clow magic you have?" I tried, but couldn't find it. [AN: In other words, Sakura can feel each magic she has working inside of her, but she can't feel the green.] At the shake

of my head, she continued, "Then it's magic potential. Anything can unlock it at any moment...no one's ever discovered what exactly it takes, other than a strong feeling. Your personality, though, is easy enough. That indigo is determination, the silver is courage–a lot of that [AN:^_^], and magenta...you have a lot of love within you for others." At my blush, she raised her eyebrows but didn't comment further. "And purple-you have a deep, poetic side to you." Yelan frowned at the sphere. "The green, though. I suppose we must name it until it's turned from potential to reality and we know what it really is." Suddenly, she smiled. "We'll call it Sakura magic. It's stronger-and stranger-than any other I've felt." 

I smiled timidly back at her, and was about to reply when a feeling came over me. Images of Li, the sunset, and a storm bringing death, danger, nightmares, and pain flashed in my mind and my eyes as my chest tightened unnaturally. For a moment, I was suspended above a rocky plain with emerald fire spiraling up towards me. Then it felt like an icy hand had seized my heart and was wrenching it out, while at the same time flattening my lungs. The room spun as I reeled in shock. The pain subsided. For a moment, my mind was blank and numb. Then it started to work again and I gasped, "Where's Li?! There's a storm-the storm of nightmares-it's coming!"

Yelan paled. "You have prophecy magic...and Li went for a walk a little while ago in the forest!" Realization dawned on her face, and she whispered, "Oh gods. It's Akumu! But I have to protect everyone here!"

"What–nightmare? Who is this?" [AN: Akumu means Nightmare in Japanese.]

"Kurai Akumu. He's one of the clan's oldest foes, and he always attacks us randomly. We've managed to fend him off before, but now....he...he's taken Li?!?!"

"Not yet!" I scrambled to my feet. "There's still time-there's gotta be- I saw the sunset!" There was a window in the wall facing west, and I saw the sun hovering a few degrees above the horizon. Yelling to Yelan that I'd go help Li so she could stay, I flung myself out the door and stumbled down the halls, following my instincts and the sense of darkness in one direction. As I dashed down the hall, I was aware of the sphere hanging over my shoulder and gasped, "Can you take me to Li?" The sphere bobbed and flew down a corridor with me sprinting after it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was just touching the hills when I burst out of the doors, still following the sphere. A wind tossed the branches of the trees into a frenzy as dark clouds culminated over one spot. I ran on.

Bushes and low branches scratched my arms and legs as I hurtled through the dense woods. Overhead, lightning flickered eerily in the black clouds, which were slowly spinning in a circle like a giant, evil wheel.

I burst into a clearing directly under the center. Someone stood there, staring in fascination at the revolving spiral of darkness.

It was Li.

"Li!" I squeaked. The wind, now tearing at my clothes and howling around me, carried my voice away.

"Li!" I shouted his name again, and this time he heard. Turning, he said something that was lost in a dull roll of thunder.

The clouds were opening, but instead of blue sky in the gap, there was only flat, inexorable dark gray.

With a shriek, the winds pulled into a funnel and leapt over Li, lifting him into the air.

"No!" Without a thought I ran forward and jumped into the funnel. The wind howled around me as I caught his hand and held on. There was a jolt, and I caught a glimpse of the gray vortex before sudden pressure almost crushed

me. My lungs ached to expand and I couldn't breathe. Somehow, I clung to consciousness and gripped Li's hand as hard as I could. Swinging wildly, my mind race and I tried to reach the Key of Star from where it hung around my neck. My hand inched up and I had almost reached it when something whipped around me with knife-sharp edges, pulling me down. As I watched, horrified, thorny ropes of darkness wrapped around my arms and Li, tearing us apart and pulling him up and away. Blackness enfolded me. I was vaguely aware of Li's shout of "Sakura!" before it faded. I fell through what felt like an eternity before totally losing consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to a deep green sky that shimmered with black. Every inch of me felt like it had been scratched and ripped and pounded on by hammers. Dragging myself into a sitting position, I saw that I still had my sphere. It was the only familiar thing in sight. Trees with burning leaves were all around me. It took me a minute to realize that they weren't really burning, just bright oranges, reds, and yellows, with a few neon pink leaves dotting the gray branches. Nothing else could be seen.

I drew in a shuddering breath and pulled my knees up to my chest. Nothing was even remotely familiar, and terror flooded me as I realized I had no clue where I was. Desperately snatching up my sphere, I half-screamed, half-pleaded, "Yelan–I want to talk to Yelan!" It obediently faded to a misty white, then suddenly went dark. A second later the colors returned, at first flowing sluggishly, then increasing in speed.

I was stunned. Shaking it with violently trembling hands, I gasped, "Connect me to Yelan!" It turned white once more, then fell dark as though stopped midway.

I was on my own.

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So, how was that for the first chapter of six? What will happen? Is Sakura all alone? More importantly, where the hell is she? ::Does impression of weird guy who says "coming up today, on CARDCAPTORS":: Stay tuned for the next episode...of Shin no Chikara! Each chapter that is written has a magical seal. A new, mystical chapter today we.... what? Oh, come on! You've gotta be kidding me! Is this what they really want me to say?! What kind of idiots wrote this?

.....

Or at least, if I was that guy, I'd say that...

Anyway, please write me back on what you think.


	2. Journey

Shin no Chikara

Chapter Two: Journey

Hey peoples! I'm a little bummed out from Eighth grade graduation, but on the plus side I've still got my fic! Freakyful, isn't it? Things actually start heating up now—we're talking fatalities, worlds of mist, and big-ass jackals. How cool can it get? And get this: the POV might actually change. No, seriously. Oh yeah, and just pretend the wand always gets wings, not Sakura, so she doesn't know how to fly. And for the people who are mad about what I do to Li in this chapter, well I believe in karma, and by all the laws of retribution Li should be DEAD by now for how mean he is to Sakura in the American version! So :P!!!! And besides, I'm hard on Sakura too, so you can just stick it up your...uh...piehole.

Disclaimer: BURN, NELVANA!!!! BURN IN HELL!!! Only god knows what they've done to the Sakura Card season...see, if I owned anything even remotely related to CardCaptor Sakura this would be the Fourth season, known as the Warrior Crossover Season. But I DON'T!!!! GO ON, POINT AND LAUGH!!!! I don't care! ::hides in corner:: YOU'RE THE ONE PAYING FOR MY THERAPY BILLS, YOU KNOW!!!! I'LL SUE YOUR ASS ALL OVER COURT!!!

Have a nice day!

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Sakura

For a while, I just sat there, unbelieving. My mind was totally blank. Then I realized that Li might be dead, and that was the last straw. First one tear and then another and another trickled down my face, and suddenly I couldn't stop crying. Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind, I realized I was in hysterics, but I couldn't and wouldn't stop. I lost track of what little grasp of time I had, and eventually fell into an exhausted sleep. In my dream, I was in a world of mist. The ground, the air, everything was mist. I was wandering aimlessly when I heard a familiar voice calling my name. [AN: sorry to disappoint you, but no, it's not Li.] Turning, I saw a familiar yellow form. 

"Kero?" I asked. "How did you get here? Where am I?"

"Right now, you're in the world between worlds," he answered with a worried look on his face. "Your body is in the DreamWorld, Sakura. When you fall asleep, you can communicate with me here." 

"So I'm not in the real world right now...or the DreamWorld either?" I asked. "But how did I get there in the first place?"

"That's what I'm here to tell you. The DreamWorld has few inhabitants other than the Dreamcreatures themselves, but they all coexist without conflict. There is no king or ruler of any type because none is needed. There never is any fighting between the colonists and the Dreamcreatures."

"Colonists?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah–a while ago, a couple hundred people accidentally fell into the DreamWorld. They were a religious sect that were all devoted pacifists, believing that war is the source and product of all evil, and fighting and discrimination are just as bad. Finding a world without hate was their Utopia, and they decided to stay. The Dreamcreatures share the same view, and so they get along pretty good."

"So what's the problem? And why am I here? How do I get out?"

"I'm getting there!" He scowled at me. "As pacifists, all the inhabitants are unprepared for battle, so when Akumu came the DreamWorld was as easy to take as candy from a baby. Akumu's the master of the Nightmare world, a separate dimension. He's also got a few connections, so getting rid of him won't be easy. Until now, he's been unable to break through the dimension warp and cross into this world, although he's attacked our world several times. Somehow, he created a rip in the barrier and brought in his army, taking control of everything here. Now that he's head honcho, he can influence people's actions on earth through their dreams."

"Okay...I see why he's bad, but what's that got to do with me?"

"You, Sakura, are the only person in the world with the right type of magic and enough of it to defeat him. He wants you gone so he can take over our world, so he dragged you to his own turf."

I crossed my arms and glared at Kero. "I'm not fighting him."

"Yes, you are." His tail swished impatiently. "You want Li alive, don't you?"

"_What?!_" I screamed.

"Akumu's taken Li as bait for you," he began.

"Well, it's working pretty damn well!" I shouted at him. [AN: Oooh, Sakura swore! Sakura said a no-no potty-mouth word! Talk about being pissed off!]

"Sakura, you have to be reasonable and listen to me. We only have a little more time until you wake up! Akumu singled you out for some reason-you have something no one else has, and it's not Clow magic. I don't know what it is, but you do because Yelan gave you a protection sphere. What is it?" 

I took a deep breath, clearing thoughts of Li from my head with some difficulty and concentrating on that conversation. "Umm..." I said weakly, "I have all four elements."

"Huh. Weird, but it doesn't make you anything more magically. The magics you have are rare, but not that rare. It's something you have, something no one has ever had."

The words struck a chord in my memory in my memory and I suddenly remembered what it was.

"Green!" I gasped. "I have innercore green magic-but it's only potential!"

"Green? Well, no one has ever had that before, so the downside is we don't know what it does. And even if it's just potential, it's still very powerful because it can unlock at any point in time. Innercore...very mysterious." Kero rubbed his chin, then jumped. "I forgot to tell you Akumu's weakness."

"But-why do I have to fight him? Can't I just get Li out of wherever he is and go?"

"No can do, Sakura. How long do you think it'll be before he takes Li again? And maybe this time, he'll kill him just to get the point across. I dunno." I felt the blood drain out of my face as he continued, "Akumu's problem is that the only thing that can kill him is life itself. It's part of a riddle that goes:

__

Angel's life and death dying

Enchantment gone, the knot untying

Life taken, restored, received

Three have gathered, two will leave.

Clow reed saw it in a fire-gazing spell and had me memorize it. All he would tell me was that it was the key to destroying the Nightmare master and to tell it to the heiress of the Clow Cards if she landed in the DreamWorld."

"That's it? That's all I have to work with?" I demanded.

"Yeah-I know, not an ideal situation. None of us asked for this. And I've got news for you—some of the cards are gonna work funny. Only the four elements'll be the same, cuz they're the strongest. My recommendation is to use The Fly card to get to the fortress. Your sphere'll get you there. I can't tell you which way to go, cuz there's no way of telling where you are right now."

"But it didn't work when I tried to contact Yelan!" I protested.

"It can't link across dimensions and worlds. I don't know why, but that doesn't matter. I'm going to fly to Hong Kong and tell her myself. And what matters is getting to Akumu." His voice got softer as he faded into the mist.

"Kero, what's happening?" I didn't want to lose my only tie to the real world.

"You're waking up. Sakura, I'll talk to you tomorrow night. Be careful, and keep your head no matter what. The kid's in trouble, but if you get messed up he'll be in even worse shape. And get as far as you can, cuz the longer he's in Akumu's hands, the worse it is for him."

"I know." Blinking, I found myself watching the mists shift into the trees. Oddly, a few baby blue clouds were drifting across a spring green sky. Flat on my back, I contemplated what to do. Kero wasn't here and couldn't tell me what to do. "I never said I'd do it," I whispered to no one. "I never said I'd go and fight him." The words rang false in my ears, and I remembered Kero saying, "You want Li alive, don't you?"

I had only one choice. Luckily, I still had the Key of Star with me, so I turned it into the wand and used the Fly card, then waited for the wings to pop out of the wand. Nothing happened, other than my back itching. For a minute, I tried to think of what had gone wrong, but then I was interrupted by a sudden weight on my back pulling me down. With an undignified squeak I pulled myself up, acutely aware of the two new appendages on my back. Twisting my neck, I saw two thick, new, feather-covered bones protruding from my shoulders. "No!" I shouted at them. "The wand! Go on the _wand!"_ They twitched,

but couldn't move. Kero hadn't told me The Fly would work quite like this. Carefully, I moved a wing so I could see the whole thing. It was bright white and much larger than the usual wings Fly gave the wand. The highest point was three feet above my head, and the very tip brushed the ground. I gave them and experimental flap and shot into the air. With a shriek, I tried to grab something but was well above the treetops. I started to fall, and somehow managed to hover in place by thrashing my wings like a dying vulture.

It took me a few tries to actually move in one direction, but once I did, it was exhilarating. Flying on the wand was one thing, but with my own wings it was amazing. I could go faster than ever. It wasn't until I saw my sphere out of the corner of my eye that I sobered and remembered my task. Cradling it in my arms, I said, "Show me Li." [AN: I don't know why she asks this, but this is CRAZY SAKURA LOGIC we're dealing with, okay?]

It swirled its colors faster and faster until they blurred together and the green core had faded, then melted into a horrific scene.

Li was shackled to a dark stone wall. A livid bruise puffed up one jawbone, and he had a black eye so swollen that I couldn't even see his eye. A man with orange, gleaming eyes was pacing in front of him and saying in a terrible, icy voice, "Tell me her weaknesses."

Raising his head, he spat into the man's face. "I would rather die," he snarled. The loathing practically dripped from his voice as he glared up at the man in cold hatred.

The man struck him across the face, then stalked away saying, "I will kill her, you little rodent. She will have her fingers cut off, one by one, then her arms. Then I will pull her intestines out, cut the rest of her into pieces, and feed them to you. I don't need your cooperation to defeat her." [AN: Ewwwieeee!!!!]

Li thrashed against the chains that bound him to the wall. His one good eye blazed as he yelled, "She'll crush you, Akumu! Sakura will crush you like the worm you are!"

Chills threaded my veins as I realized it was my death the man had been describing so vividly before, and that the man was none other than Kurai Akumu. _I've got to defeat a sorcerer version of Hannibal Lector?! _I thought hopelessly.

Akumu's image in the globe suddenly turned and stared beyond the walls. "The Card Mistress! She sees us!"

"What—Sakura!" Li frantically stared around him, searching for something. "Sakura, get yourself out of here! Akumu's trying to kill you! He—"

"SILENCE!" Akumu's eyes flashed orange, and in response the chains first crackled, then glowed yellow as electricity flowed down them and into Li. He yelled, trying to get away but being unable to. Akumu's laugh cut through my horror and heartache. He smirked, then said, "You have two weeks to get here, Card Mouse. I will not harm your friend further until the sunset of the fourteenth day. Be there, or he dies."

The crystal fell dark, then returned to its normal colors. Stunned, I drifted down into a clearing. If anything had been needed to convince me to fight Akumu before, that scene had just taken care of it. 

"Sphere, I need comfortable flying clothes," I commanded. The clothes I wore rustled and vanished with a flash, being replaced instantly with loose, thin knee-length capri's and a sleeveless blouse that tucked into them. "Sphere, take me to Li." It darted up, and with a stroke of my wings I followed. Zipping off to the east, it moved faster than I had thought it would, but I kept up. 

It was about noon when I saw a plume of smoke on the horizon. I was headed in that direction, so I sped up until I was almost over it. Shrieks reached my ears, and I caught the sight of burning cottages. "Watery, put out the fires!" Obediently, it left, and the dark smoke was replaced by steam as the fires were doused. Flying overhead, I saw the remains of a village being looted by dark, twisted forms while others pursued the fleeing citizens. Anger rose in me as I realized the villagers were the peace-loving colonists. "Fly, return! Jump, release!" I landed on a tree branch and sprang into the road, planting myself between the villagers and the bandits. "Stop this immediately!" I shouted, ready to use the Shield card to protect us all. "Why do you persecute these citizens?" 

The leader grinned, showing two gap-filled rows of yellow, crooked teeth. "Listen, little girl, go home to your mammy and stay out of the way of the grown-ups." He belched. "This is no place for little wenches to play pretend."

"My mother's dead," I said harshly. "Do you have any idea who I am?" At his grunt of boredom, I continued, "I am Sakura Avalon, Keeper of the once Clow and now Sakura Cards, Mistress to Keroberos and Yue, and heiress to the wand and cards of Clow Reed. I have fought battles harder than you have ever seen, faced challenges more awesome than you will ever see, and tamed monsters with powers beyond your imagination. I could send all of your men over the next hill or set them on fire with a single card. I am _not_ a little girl." He rolled his eyes, and fury enveloped me. "Do you hear me? You will leave this village now and never touch it again, or I will exterminate every one of you!"

"Go away, brat," he snorted. "You and your stick don't scare me. The real Card Mistress is in the human world."

"Suit yourself." I shrugged. "Move card, put that man in a treetop!" I whacked the card, and he squawked indignantly as he flew up. 

"What—no! It _is_ the Card Mistress!" 

"Windy, form a ribbon to contain all of the bandits!" Windy rushed out and wrapped tendrils around the looters. "Now listen to me! Are you listening?" The leader nodded tensely, sweat breaking out on his face as I lowered him down. "Is your master Akumu?" He nodded again. "Tell your fellows everywhere that the Card Mistress is here, and she will destroy any of your kind she finds harming anyone or anything. Leave now, and never come back. I will know if you do." I turned to the villagers.

"Wait!"

Something in the man's voice made me whirl around. I watched in horror as his eyes flared a fierce orange and he started growing until he towered hundreds of feet into the air, then fell on all fours. His form shifted to that of a giant jackal as drops of steaming saliva the size of bowling balls foamed from his mouth, splattering around us. Only his eyes remained the same: a livid, evil orange. With a swipe of his paw, the jackal flattened the remaining cottages, then turned, snarling, to me. 

"Who has the power now, little girl?"

"I do! Erase Card!" I watched, satisfied, as the jackal and his followers (who were no more than twisted, savage demons) dissolved, howling. I returned all of the cards and turned to face the villagers.

They were all on their knees, their foreheads pressed to the ground. One crawled forward and said, "Oh, Midori Tenshi, how can we thank you?"

Taken aback, I blinked in surprise and said after a moment, "Uh-you could get up, all of you. You don't have to do this. Akumu's kidnapped my friend, and any damage I can do to him is good." I bit my lip at the memory of what I had seen in the crystal. Swallowing a sudden lump in my throat, I added, "I'm going to see what I can do about your town." I faced the smoking ruins. "Time Card, restore the village to as it was a day ago!" Fascinated, I watched as the houses slowly rebuilt themselves. Animals were returned to pens, gardens replanted, carts rolled back to their positions at the side of their houses. What had been a charred nightmare was now a normal and picturesque cluster of cottages. With a sigh of satisfaction, I returned the card and asked, "Anything else?" 

"No, no, you have done too much already!" The woman cried at my feet. "We are forever in your debt!"

"No, you aren't!" I said shyly. "Any damage I can do to Akumu is good, I told you. And I wasn't joking about getting up."

"As you wish, Midori Tenshi." [AN: Midori Tenshi is Green Angel in Japanese.] The woman got up and bowed, hands at her sides.

"Why are you calling me that?" 

"It's legend, Midori Tenshi," she said with surprise. "The legend of the Green Angel."

"What legend?" I asked, feeling rather stupid.

"One the leader who brought us here told us before she died," she said. "The Green Angel is a mighty warrior, come to aid us in our darkest hour. She will liberate the chained, help those in need, and erase the darkness of evil from this land. The leader said she would be both small and great, with wings of light, and that—" she coughed, slightly embarrassed "—that she would destroy the evil for the sake of that whom she loved the most."

I turned about nine different shades of red. "Ohumm...well, it's kinda true, and I'd better get going, so I, uh, bid you farewell! Right, farewell! Fly!" As soon as my wings had appeared, I flew off, still flushed with humiliation.

The day passed quickly. I settled in a clearing and camped for the night, eating what the sphere provided for me. The next morning, I rose, ate, and set off. This time, I didn't find a village in trouble until late in the day. When I saw the telltale smoke, I flew as fast as I could, anticipating another round of making a big show and driving off vermin.

I was too late.

The village was already ravaged, the inhabitants dead, their houses destroyed. Landing in shock, I stumbled to the nearest body and saw it was a little boy. "No," I whispered. "No! NOOOO!!!!!!" My shrill scream was the only noise, other than the creak of wood. "Akumu will pay," I swore through gritted teeth. A small cry came from inside a house. I waited, silent and tense and thinking I might have imagined it. It came again, and I walked over. "Hello?"

There was no response, and I asked again, "Hello? Is anyone there? I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's what _they_ said," came a trembling voice. "Then they killed Mama and Papa, and Sissy, and—and—" I saw a movement from under the floorboards. "Are you going to kill me? Mommy said to stay here until she said to come out, but she can't tell me to come out, and I should stay here!" 

I pulled away a board, then another. A little girl of about four, black-haired and brown-eyed, was huddled in a corner of the crawlspace. Tears left lighter streaks in her muddy face as I crept in and said, "I swear I won't hurt you. Havehave you heard of the Midori Tenshi?" She nodded, and I said gently, "I'm her. I'm going to take you out of here, and find you a home to stay in." She nodded, and took my hand. "What's your name?"

"Hayashi," she said slowly.

"Well, mine's Sakura." I hoisted her through the hole I had made, and pulled myself up after her. "Do you have any relatives?"

"My aunt Tomomi lives in another village," she said. "She knows magic, and wanted me to live with her, but Mama said no."

"Would you like to live with her?"

"Yes." Hayashi put her thumb in her mouth and blinked sleepily. "Mommy said she might let me go when I was older, cause she said I could be a sorsess."

"A what?"

"A sorsess."

It took me a minute to figure out that she was mispronouncing sorceress. Looking at her, I could sense a bit of magic. I smiled gently and took her to a clearing, using the sphere to set up camp. At night I was awake long after Hayashi because every time I closed my eyes, I saw the face of the dead little boy.

The next day, Hayashi and I flew to her aunt's village and explained the situation. Her aunt was saddened by the death of her sister, but was all too happy to have the little girl. "Be careful," she warned me as I prepared to fly away. "Your path is steep and rocky. If you let your emotions get the better of you, things will change." Hayashi was right; her aunt was a magician. "Thanks," I said. "I'll keep that in mind."

The days passed. A few more villages were being attacked when I came, but I got rid of their harriers and moved on. A few villages had been abandoned, or so it seemed, for they were devoid of inhabitants. I soon learned to pass those by, and each night, I fell asleep and told the day's occurrence to Kero. Despite what I was going through, my power still remained as potential and unmanifested. The villagers were grateful, but no one treated me like I yearned to be treated-like a friend. To them, I was a hero, a god, but not a human. I hated it, and loneliness enveloped me in a numbing cloud. On the tenth night, Kero said I was two days away and to be extra careful. The day passed as usual, but the night was anything but usual.

As usual, I found myself in the world between worlds. Kero was nowhere in sight, but he appeared soon and said, "Follow me." He flew away and I ran after him, wondering what was going on. Soon, he vanished into the mists, and I was lost. "Kero?" A form emerged from the fog, but it wasn't Kero. 

I stopped, stricken. _"Li?!"_

__

"Sakura?!" Shock was prevalent on his face.

Taking a closer look, I realized it was him. "Li? Oh _god,_ it _is_ you!" Was it? Or was it just a wish playing out as a dream? Deciding he wasn't real, I poured out all the feelings I had traveling in the DreamWorld: how I hated being alone, how much it hurt to find a town already burned, and everything. Before I knew it, a tear fell down my cheek. Li wiped it away, and I begged him not to leave. He told me he'd always be with me, and we kissed, but then he was fading and I woke up feeling very confused. What had happened? Had I been so lonely that I had cut myself off from talking to Kero and had a regular dream? Had it been real? There was no solution, and so I ate and set off once more. I arrived at noon on the twelfth day. 

Akumu's "palace" was no palace at all. Rather, it was a plateau of gray stone, with brown, dead-looking moss growing in between the cracks. I rested at the base of a cliff at the plateau's edge before steeling myself and flying up there.

The first thing that caught my eye was a slab of stone jutting out of the plateau at a 90-degree angle. It appeared to have a crevice dug out of it that cast an odd shadow, but as I drew nearer it became frighteningly apparent that the dark shape was no shadow; it was chained human. Fifteen feet away, I stopped in horror and fell with a thump.

It was Li.

I stumbled the distance left to the slab, thinking and hoping he was only unconscious. "Li?" I turned the wand into the Sword and sawed at a chain. "Li, wake up!" He didn't stir; the chain didn't break. "Li?" I shook him, and noticed for the first time how cold he was, how pale his face was. "Wake up!" 

I didn't want to accept the all-too-harsh reality. Couldn't accept it. 

"Wake up!" I screamed, shaking him harder. He didn't move. I seized a limp wrist and felt desperately for a pulse but found one. "No," I whispered. "_No, no, no, no, NO! NOOOO!"_ I punctuated each syllable with a punch to the unbreakable

slap as I slid down it, sobbing. Fury filled me until I could hardly see, and I noticed the green fire in my sphere growing until it had almost eclipsed the other colors.

**__**

"AKUMU!"

"You wailed?" I heard his voice say from behind me a moment later.

I seized the wand/sword from where it had fallen. "You said you wouldn't kill him!" I screamed, charging at him. When I swung the sword down in a wide, wild arc, it hardly slashed his hand as he dodged casually. 

"I lied." He frowned at his palm, which was now barely oozing a lead-colored substance.

"You-you don't bleed?" I gasped. It was more of a statement than a question. 

"I used to, like everything alive. Having a heart was too troublesome, though, so I removed it and replaced my blood with liquid iron." He laughed bitterly. "I don't live, so I can't die. You can't defeat me, wench. You are mortal, as was your friend there. I enjoyed killing him."

Something snapped inside of me at those words, but this was beyond reactions. Suddenly I was floating over the plain. Time was suspended as I knew everything there was to know, saw everything there was to see. Looking down, I saw my body surrounded by emerald fire that spiraled up towards me. I recognized the scene from the vision I had had when I had gotten my sphere. Letting the fire touch me, I was pulled back. Inside my body once more, I forgot all of my new knowledge except for three things. One was that my green magic was more than anyone had predicted, the power of the heavens and the universe and birth and life and death and dying and creation and more. Using the sun aspect, I could bring Li back.

The last was that it could kill Akumu.

An odd calmness descended on me as I opened my eyes. The sphere, now burning green, shrank into an ellipsoid [AN: an ellipsoid is to an oval as a sphere is to a circle, for all those people who don't memorize useless facts] with one flat edge, then settled itself to the right of my heart. Looking down, I realized I was in a dress. I didn't really care. All that mattered at the moment was killing Akumu.

I swung the newly green and white wand up and focused my power on the tip. Green and gold fire plunged out and hung, dancing, in the air. I sent it to Akumu, where it circled him once, then flowed into the gash in his hand. The iron slowly turned a bright scarlet as Akumu stared at it, horrified. "What have you done? _What have you done to me?"_

"Given you life, Akumu." I was unshakably serene. "You are alive, but not for long."

"My heart! I have none—you wretch! You knew!" He spat. "No! I will die!" I watched impassively as he crumpled, finally suffering what he had put so many others through, then turned to Li's body.

Unbidden, the chains vanished, but my power lowered him gently to my level. Holding my hands out, they started to glow, and ever so slowly his wounds began to heal. Color returned to his face, and his chest moved as he breathed once again, but I couldn't celebrate. My magic was swiftly draining into Li, and I had to concentrate as hard as possible on healing him. Finally, there was no more I could do. Still unconscious, I knew he'd wake up soon. Dragging what was left of my magic store out, I created a portal and carried him through it. Ironically, we landed in the same clearing where we had first been pulled into the DreamWorld. For a minute, I stood there, panting hard. As I watched, my dress shrank to my usual clothes. The sphere returned to its normal size and shape, swirling its colors as fast as ever. Looking inside of me, I felt the fire that now burned in my heart and knew my power had been unlocked. I was too exhausted to care and too weary to move, so I stood there until my vision faded and I could feel my knees buckling under me.

I awoke to the sound of a voice I never though I'd hear again. "Sakura, wake up!" 

I opened my eyes, still bone-weary, and Li's face swam into view.

"Are...you all right?" I wasn't sure if my power could hurt as well as help.

"I'm alive," he said numbly. "How?"

"I've got inner core magic, and it's...uh...part life magic," I said, trying to sit up. That was a mistake. "I brought you back after I killed—" Reality caught up with me. I had _killed_ someone. Someone who had once been human. "I think I'm going to be sick," I croaked, somehow dragging myself to my knees. 

Sure enough, I lost what felt like every meal I had had in the last week, and then some.

"Easy." Li patted my back, then said "Let's get you home."

I blindly stumbled along as he half carried me down some path I assumed led to the mansion.

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Yelan/3rd Person

Yelan gazed out of the window, more depressed than ever. Almost two weeks had gone by since Akumu had kidnapped both Sakura and Li, and still no word from any of the three. _How will I explain this to her father?_ she wondered sadly.

"Any sign?" Keroberos was hovering over her shoulder. 

"No. You said today was the day?"

"Yes." Suddenly, Kero flew to the window.

"What?" Yelan looked out again at the woods where Sakura and Li had vanished. A flash of color caught her eye, and she whispered, "Could it be?" A minute later, a familiar figure emerged, half-dragging someone. "Li!" Yelan gasped, amazed. It was too good to be true, except...where was Sakura? _She has to be with him...his magic can't take him back and he wouldn't leave her there for anything. _Then she realized it was Sakura he was carrying.

"Sakura!" Kero flew down the hall with Yelan close on his heels.

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****

Li

I glanced down at Sakura, who looked ready to pass out again. "Sakura, come on." I shook her gently. "We're almost there." She nodded, the exhaustion clear on her face. The ball of fire in her sphere was tiny now, and shrank a little more. We were practically out of the forest when the emerald ball flared, shrinking to a pinprick of light. She stumbled and passed out. I picked her up and carried her out of the woods. The sight of my home was so welcome, but I couldn't stop. Sakura was still in trouble. Overdrain in magic was a dangerous practice and occasionally fatal; she needed help fast. Looking at her, it was hard to believe that this beautiful little girl had the kind of power she did. The power to raise the dead... it was a scary thought, and it occurred to me that her semi-average appearance was a good thing. If knowledge of what she was capable of fell into the wrong hands, there would be a phenomenal amount of trouble.

My mother burst out of the double doors, preceded by Kero, and ran to me. Hugging me swiftly, she asked, "What's wrong with Sakura?"

"Overdrain. She took out Akumu and brought me back to life."

"What?!" She took Sakura from me. "You were _dead?!"_

"I'll explain later. She really overdid herself, and this is a critical case." I blushed as I realized how concerned I sounded, but it was a tiny fraction of the panic I was really feeling. _What if she dies?! What if she dies?! What if she dies?!_

"Don't worry, Li." Mother glanced at me, the barest hint of an amused smile fluttering on her lips. "She needs a boost, that's all." Purple light flickered in her hands, then streamed over Sakura. The green ball of fire grew until it was roughly marble-sized, fueled by my mother's magic. "She's out of immediate danger, but she needs rest." Mother looked harder at Sakura's face and shook her head. I noticed for the first time how pale she was, and the deep, dark circles under her eyes. 

Mother sighed. "She's also suffering from extreme exhaustion. From what Kero tells me, the Fly card would only give _her _wings and not the wand, so she had to fly on her own strength."

Kero piped in. "She slept six hours or less a night and traveled roughly three hundred miles a day. More on the days she didn't have to fight with Akumu's underlings, who now are gone cuz she killed them all. Only she knows how much power it took not only to get rid of Akumu but bring you back to life and drag both of you back."

I was speechless. She did that for me? Then it hit me: she wanted to avenge all the people she'd seen killed, or she wanted Akumu gone, or something like that. There was no reason she'd travel almost four thousand miles and nearly kill herself over someone who had acted the way I did towards her.

I resigned myself to that idea as Mother carried Sakura inside the house. _She'll never like you, Li _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hoowhee! I'm done with this chapter! Yay! So...What is Sakura's power, really? Will she be able to master it before the summer is over? And Kero said that Akumu had connections...who are we talking about? Stay tuned to find all this and more in Part three of Shin no Chikara: Shut Your Piehole. No, that's seriously what it's called. Really! No, I'm not kidding! Anyway, I'd love to get some responses on this...did you know I originally planned this story just to be these two chapters? But then I got this idea...what if I put in the Sailor Senshi? Yeah, you got that right. The characters from Sailor Moon. Chibiusa and Sakura are about the same age, too...and let's just say that Sakura gets a little competition... I'm thinking about a sequel, so write me back! Peace and luv till later!


	3. Shut Your Piehole

Shin no Chikara

Chapter Three: Shut Your Piehole

Told you that was what it was called! Holy Shi—uh, Holy Shiitake (it's a type of mushroom), this is long! I had no clue I had this much free time! Jeez, this is the longest chapter ever! Thank you all for your reviews! Yes, this does contain crossovers, but it only makes the story better. Some of you were concerned the focus would be taken off Cardcaptors/CardCaptor Sakura, but don't worry—no matter what, Sakura and Li are ALWAYS the main characters. And some people were worried about how the Senshi would fit in. I'll give you a hint: if Sakura is the only one with that kind of power and doesn't know quite how to use it, who's going to teach her how to? I also thought I'd clarify that by no means is Shin no Chikara done. I've still got three medium length, action-packed chapters to go; they make up for this long but boring one. When I said sequel, I meant to the whole series!....yes, for all you impatient peeps, at the end of the series -the series, not the chapter-there's more S+S...smoochieses and all. AND THE POV (Point of View, for all of you who've lived in a hole all your lives...just kidding ^_^') ACTUALLY CHANGES! There's a grand total of fifteen switches, although it's still mostly from Sakura's view.... So heeeerrrrrre weeeee gooooo!!!!!!

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say this? I DON'T OWN CARDCAPTORS OR CARDCAPTOR SAKURA OR ANYTHING!!!!! GET THAT INTO YOUR HEAD!!! I OWN NOTHING!!! **NOTHING!!!!!!**

~~~~~= POV switch

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****

Li

I peered into Sakura's bedroom one more time. It had been two days since she had dragged us back, and she was still asleep. She'd only moved once in all that time, and the only indication she was alive was the flickering green ball of fire in her sphere. If I had never met her, and someone had told me she had the power to raise the dead and defeat the lord of nightmares, I'd have laughed myself sick. She looked so innocent and...well, powerless when she was asleep, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mother had taken a leaf from the clearing where we had been kidnapped. She said there was a taint of Akumu's power on it; that must have been true. When she brought it into the Sakura's bedroom, Sakura sat bolt upright, eyes wide open, and the leaf burst into flames as she fell back, unconscious once more. She was anything but powerless.

With an inner sigh, I turned away and joined Mei Lin in Sakura's living room, where we'd been waiting. Word had spread around the mansion of Yelan's guest, the girl who was now keeper of the Cards, and how she had defeated a DarkLord. As a result, people had been stopping in all day for a glimpse of her, and this was the first time in a while we had been left alone.

"Still asleep?" Mei Lin asked glumly. These past few days, she had only left the room to eat, sleep, or shower. Surprisingly, she hadn't been hanging from my neck and in fact was more concerned about the fact that Sakura had gone so long living the way she did than the fact that I had died.

Dying. That had been beyond words. Every time I dozed off, my mind brought me back to the awful two weeks with Akumu. Undoubtedly, it had been the worst experience of my life.

__

The minute I had landed at his feet, the thorny whips snaking away, he had slapped me in chains that blocked any spells I could do, then on the third day snapped my neck only partially. I couldn't move, but still felt every bruise, break, and gash, and the slightest motion set off another round of agony. All I could do was watch helplessly as slimy, clawed creatures skittered over me. It was awful.

That was the first week.

The second was more mental torture. Akumu healed my neck just so he could watch my reactions as he conjured up images of my friends and family dying horribly. Even when I closed me eyes, they would play over and over in my mind. Then Akumu discovered my biggest weakness: Sakura. This had delighted him, and the images of my family were replaced by images of her as she was beaten, shot, stabbed, and killed in other grisly ways. Even worse were the scenes of her being tortured, raped, abused, and crucified. The pictures filled my dreams and nightmares, and every waking moment I was viewing her pain. I had gone practically insane by the eleventh night. All I could do was hang in my chains as Akumu walked away, laughing. Closing my eyes, I waited for a dream to come.

****

Surprisingly, I was in a world of mist. I was wondering how soon it would be until Akumu started messing with me again when Kero appeared in front of me He gave me one look and said, "Hang in there, kid. Sakura's almost there. She's coming for you, you know. Don't give up cuz it's almost over." 

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Your body is in the DreamWorld," Kero said. "Here, you're in the world between worlds. Akumu wants to kill off Sakura, so he's using you as bait."

"I know." A sudden thought occurred to me. "Is she safe?"

"About as safe as a flower in the path of a steamroller," Kero snorted. "But this is a pretty damn tough flower. And a powerfully magical one—she's innercore."

"No way." I was stunned. Sakura didn't seem quite like the type to be phenomenally powerful, and it was a shock knowing someone else shared the burden I had-being the strongest alive. Very few people knew I had innercore elemental magic. It wasn't something I wanted spread around. "Akumu's in for one hell of a surprise," I remarked.

"The downside is that it's still potential." Kero's shoulders drooped, then tensed as he asked suddenly, "You haven't told him anything, have you?"

"No. He doesn't need me too," I replied honestly. He was about to say something when I heard footsteps.

"Kero?" a familiar voice called. He disappeared, and Sakura's form burst through a bank of fog a second later. With a gasp, she saw me and stopped dead "Li?!"

"Sakura?!" I wanted to believe it was her so badly...

"Li? Oh god, it is you!" She ran at me, and a moment later she was in my arms. Tears were trickling down her cheeks, and she buried her face in my shoulder, sobbing. "Li, it's awful! They're killing people, and I have to save them, and there's no one to talk to, and it's so lonely! It's my fault some of the people are dead! If I had come sooner, they'd be alive! It's all my fault! I want to go home!"

"I know, I know," I said, patting her back. I hadn't been having the time of my life with Akumu, but for Sakura to be alone in an unknown world would be even worse for her. She looked up, her eyes still bright with tears. A single drop fell down her cheek, and I brushed it away with shaking fingers. 

She caught my hand and held it in a surprisingly strong grip. "Don't leave me," she whispered. "I'm so alone. It's scary. I'm always alone. No one will talk to me, and I hate it!"

"I'll be with you forever," I promised. "No matter what." I bent down and kissed her on the lips. It was all so real, yet I knew it was a dream I didn't want it to end. When I opened my eyes she was fading. I tried to catch her, but she was immaterial. Sakura shouted, "I'm coming" and vanished completely.

The mist swirled and darkened, becoming the walls of the dungeon. 

Akumu had burst through the door, letting in a block of dim light. "Today is the day you get to die," he announced cheerfully.

It was all very simple, he explained. He had to wait to kill me until the Card Mistress was four or five hours away so my corpse wouldn't rot, but not so close that my body would still be warm. Long enough for it to cool, soon enough to keep it from rotting. I had barely listened, thinking of my dream of Sakura....If only that had really been her...

Then Akumu had really broken my neck. I had died instantly, but instead of going Above, to the spirit world where I could rest, I had tried to stay as close to the real world as possible so I could wait for Sakura. I had determined that I wouldn't go until she was with me, no matter how long that was, but a few hours later I had been tugged back to my body and had woke to find myself back home with Sakura. 

I was aware of the fact that I was standing with my eyes sort of glazed over, lost in thought, but I didn't really care.

"Well?" Mei Lin demanded.

"What? Oh, yeah. She's still asleep," I replied, sitting down. 

Mei Lin rolled her eyes and tossed a few bread crumbs into Sakura's koi pond, muttering, "Boys!"

I ignored her, and we sat in silence. Mei Lin and I were the only ones waiting at the moment, although I was sure someone would just drop by' soon. Mother came in from time to time to check on her; she couldn't give her another energy boost without risking damage to Sakura's magic.

A low moan came from the bedroom. We froze and listened for another sound, and soon were rewarded with a string of very un-Sakura-like curses. As we ran into the bedroom, we saw that she was indeed awake and finishing her oaths quite vividly, ending with, "God damn, I've got the most big-ass headache ever." Seeing us, she smiled and said cheerfully, "Hi Li, hi Mei Lin. You wouldn't happen to have an Advil, would you? My head hurts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

The dream I had had on my eleventh night in the DreamWorld was repeating over and over again, the one where Kero told me to follow him and I ran and ran until I found Li. It kept playing over and over in my mind, like there was something I was supposed to catch. It couldn't have been real, though, because I had never been able to talk with Li before. Why would things change for us that night? I wished that it had been, though, that Li had really been there instead of some wish turned to dream.

As it was playing through my mind one more time, the visions faded away and for a minute I didn't know where I was. Instead of a green sky overhead, or the light blue clouds, there was snowy linen. Looking around, I caught a glimpse of pine furniture and falling petals on the walls before a sudden pain in my head made me stop moving. I moaned and tried to look around again. This time it felt like someone was driving nails into my skull, and I spouted curses I had learned from Tori and some of the occupants of the DreamWorld. "Son-of-a-" I said through gritted teeth, sitting up gingerly. Li and Mei Lin ran in. "God damn, I've got the most big-ass headache ever," I sighed. My head was still pounding, and I wasn't going to forget it any time soon. "Hi Li, hi Mei Lin. You wouldn't happen to have an Advil, would you? My head hurts."

Li and Mei Lin stood there, stunned, then Mei Lin blinked and said, "Yelan can probably help you. I'll go get her." She winked behind Li's back and took off, conveniently leaving us alone.

"How–how long have I been asleep?" I asked him carefully. Sleep was a nice, normal topic, one that wouldn't make either of us uncomfortable. 

"Two days," he replied just as cautiously. We avoided each other's gaze and there was an awkward moment of silence until Li broke it by saying, "Thanks for saving my [AN: I was SOOO tempted to put ass here, but...sigh...Li would never say thanks for saving my ass' -_-;] life."

"You're welcome." I forgot where I was as memory rushed back, triggered by the statement. It took over, filling my mind. Each and every night had been spent alone, wondering if Li was still alive and if either of us would survive. Everywhere I had gone, people had treated me with awe, fear, and respect—whole crowds parted before me. Streets had emptied themselves because of my presence, the citizens recognizing me from rumors and descriptions they had heard. Every day, I had been alone. I never ever wanted to be alone again Ever. But I was alone now, trapped in my own mind. I was alone. Alone. Alone.

"Sakura, snap out of it!" Evidently, Li had seen some of my near catatonia on my face because the next thing I knew, he was shaking me.

"What happened?" I asked. Li released me as soon as he saw my gaze shift and meet his. He backed away saying, "You blanked out. What were you thinking of?"

"Traveling to Akumu's," I responded, struggling to keep my mind away. If I focused on the fear again, it would pull me in.

"Was it bad?" he asked softly.

I tried to talk but for a moment, my voice wouldn't work. Swallowing, to my surprise I found myself echoing what I had said in my dream. "It was awful. They were killing people, and I had to save them, and there was no one to talk to. It's my fault some of the people are dead."

Something flickered in his eyes—was it recognition or pity?—but before he could say anything, Mei Lin came back with Yelan, followed by a trail of curious onlookers. I couldn't think of why she was here until my headache came back with double ferocity. Yelan walked over and took my hand. Her fingers glowed a gentle purple for a second, and the pain receded. "Thanks," I said with relief.

"You're welcome," Yelan said with a smile. Turning, she gave the bystanders a _look_ and they vanished. "You're going to have to stay in bed for at least three more days, you know."

"Why?"

"The same reason you had that headache: overdrain. Often, when a young person does a magical act that exceeds their power in one area, they'll accidentally pull power from another area. Like...when you brought Li back to life, you used the green power, right?" I nodded. "Well, there wasn't quite enough to completely bring him back, so you fueled the green with the energies of your other magics. Your mind had to translate the energies at an astonishing rate, producing your headache, and often you not only pull energy from your magic, you pull it from yourself. If your headache was as big as I think it was, don't count on getting out of bed at all today. You don't have the strength."

Experimentally attempting to pull my legs up to my chest, I had to agree. All I managed to do was wiggle my toes. "I see what you mean."

Yelan faced Li and Mei Lin. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss alone with Sakura. Can you two ensure no one disturbs us?"

"Right." Li nodded, looking almost happy to leave, and Mei Lin followed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I need to know exactly what happened," she said gently. "And more importantly, _how_ it happened. Start from where you ran to the clearing." 

I told her the story, cutting out the unnecessary details, such as the villagers' worship of me, and that the legend stated that I had done it for Li. When I came to the part where my potential had been released, Yelan asked, "You saw yourself, like an out-of-body experience?" I nodded, and she motioned for me to continue. I explained about giving Akumu partial life to kill him, and then bringing Li back to life and getting us home, then trailed off. I sat in silence as Yelan stared at the wall, a tiny frown on her face. "I don't like this," she said finally. "Once the other DarkLords find out that Akumu's gone, they'll see you as a serious threat and are going to challenge you."

"Who are the DarkLords?" I asked.

"An order of the most powerful Dark sorcerers. Akumu was the least of them, a sort of mascot."

"Oh. And now they're going to pick fights with me because he made me kill him?" I asked hopelessly.

Yelan nodded grimly, saying, "I wish Akumu had never taken you in the first place. We've got to prepare you for their battles, but that's going to take much more training than what we have time for."

She stopped talking for a minute and gazed at me as if taking my measure. "Would it be possible for you to stay the year?"

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears. "Stay a year?"

"I thought not. We'll just have to—"

"I'd _love_ to stay a year!" I exploded, cutting her off unintentionally. "Dad won't mind at all, he wanted me to travel more, this'll be fantastic—" I halted, realizing I had interrupted her. "Oh, sorry!"

"It's fine, but are you sure about this?" she asked worriedly. "You'll be gone a whole year."

"I'm positive. Just let me write to Dad, so he knows. But what about the DarkLords? What if I refuse to answer a challenge?"

"Then they'll force you to fight, like Akumu, and probably the same way."

I winced. "Not good."

She patted my shoulder. "I have to go, but I'll be back soon. We need to discuss this power of yours."

Almost out of the door, she looked back with an amused smile on her lips. "And if anyone bothers you, give them a glare and they'll go away. Trust me, it works all the time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Mei Lin/3rd Person

Mei Lin followed her cousin down the hall determinedly. She had to know if Li liked Sakura, or she'd go crazy. Gritting her teeth, Mei Lin waited until they were in an empty wing, then called, "Li?"

"Yeah?" He turned around.

__

There's no approach better than a direct one, Mei Lin thought resolutely. "You like her, don't you?"

"_What?!_" Li blushed faintly.

"You like Sakura, don't you?" she asked, impatiently.

This time, he turned a darker shad of red and stammered, "I-I don't know w-what you're talk-king ab-bout."

"Yes you do." Mei Lin deliberately inched forward. "Don't deny it, cuz you suck at lying."

He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and shut it again. Li seemed to be weighing responses in his mind, and finally said warily, "So what if I do?"

"So nothing. I just wanted to know," Mei Lin said, happily skipping past him. She headed down the corridor, ignoring an irritated curse from Li as he followed her. It was going to be so much fun to play matchmaker!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I had dozed off for about half an hour when Yelan returned. She wasn't alone.

"Kero!"

"Sakura, nice job with Akumu, but Yelan tells me it ain't over yet." He flew over and landed on the bed sheets. "It's just one problem after another, isn't it? Got any food?"

"You're telling me," I said wearily. "And no, I don't. So what's the game plan?"

"We've been discussing the situation," Kero said huffily, mad that I had shut him down, "and we've decided to pair up the only two people alive with innercore magics."

"What do you mean?' I asked confusedly.

"Li and you both have innercore powers, yours being...whatever it is and his being elemental," Yelan explained. "If we train you two to work as a team, you have a good chance of surviving the DarkLords. But we do need to know what your magic is, so we can teach you the best we can."

I thought for a minute and finally said, "It's hard to describe. It's almost ten-sided—no, it is ten-sided, and each side corresponds with a planet, and....I'm not explaining this very well, am I?"

Yelan was staring at me, wide-eyed. After a moment, she shook herself and said, "On the contrary, you're explaining this very well. Continue."

"Well," I said, struggling for words, "when I brought Li back, it felt like I was using the power as sun-power because it was the ruler of life and—and—"

"And creation," Yelan finished. "Will you excuse me for a moment?"

"Uh-sure," I said with some confusion. She walked away swiftly as I asked Kero, "What was that all about?"

His expression was similar to Yelan's: awe, surprise, and worry. "Sakura...you've just made yourself into a legend."

"WHAT?!"

"Umm.... I dunno where it came from, but there's a prophecy that a Warrior will rise to fight the DarkLords, and that their power will come from the world and stars. At least, that's what the interpretation is." Kero scratched his head. "Basically, someone found the inscription on a piece of stone that was dated to be older than humanity. Last time I saw it was with Clow Reed, and he said he could feel it came from the center of the earth. The problem was that it was written in a language so archaic, no one could read it. Clow Reed only figured it out before he died, and he had to use a strong spell of communication. It loses a lot in the translation, I think, and sad to say, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. It was actually written in symbols, and when it came to the part about the Warrior, the symbol's meaning kept shifting from two to one. I'm not sure if that meant that there were two Warriors, or that the Warrior combined two powers, or what, but my guess is that something's tried to give us a hint about how to save our asses, and that something's taken a shine to you, Sakura."

"Taken a _shine_ to me?" I demanded. "I'm a freak! No one has this kind of power!"

"Yes they do," Yelan's voice interrupted. "And I'm pretty sure they're coming here to teach you how to use it."

"Who?" Kero asked, dumbfounded. 

"The Sailor Senshi."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!?!?!" I yelped. Celebrities?! Coming to help me? It wasn't possible.

"Setsuna will probably bring them all. Mamoru won't be coming, because he's in college, but from what I'm guessing you don't have Earth-power."

"No, I don't—who?"

"Setsuna. Sailor Pluto. Mamoru's Tuxedo Mask." 

"You know them personally?" I gasped.

"Not really, just Setsuna. I help her with spells sometimes," she explained. "And I'm going to ask her to bring the Senshi here, because it sounds like they each have a side of your power and can teach you how to use it."

I sighed in envy at the thought of being friends with any of the Sailor Senshi; then it hit me. They were all coming here, just to teach_ me._ Suddenly I felt very overwhelmed and just as exhausted. "I-I think I need a-a-a nap now," I stammered.

Yelan glanced at me, startled. Her features relaxed and she said, "I know this must be a lot to take in, but don't worry. You'll get used to it soon." She patted my knee and left. Kero stayed with me as I slowly drifted into sleep.

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****

Yelan/3rd Person

Yelan sprinkled a little of the magical, dark green herb known as kyori, or distance, into the fire before her. Communicating this way was harder but more convenient than the sphere. "I want to talk with Setsuna," she commanded. Sailor Pluto had not been busy for a while now and a new challenge would be good for her.

Sadly, Sakura was that challenge. The poor child, overridden with confusion and not to mention fear, had no notion of the magnitude power she carried. The celestial power was the key to the Warrior, destined to challenge the DarkLords and their leader, Lady Hei Long. Sakura had no idea of what she would be up against, and just how much was resting on her shoulders. The destiny of the world was determined by the outcome of the battle.

Setsuna's face appeared in the flames. "Yelan, hello!" she said in greeting.

"Hello, Setsuna," she responded gravely. "I have news for you."

"Good or bad?" she asked.

"Neither. Remember what I told you about the Card Mistress?"

"The little girl?"

"Yes. Sakura—"

"Her name is Sakura?!" Setsuna interrupted. "Do you have a photograph of her?"

"Yes, why?" Yelan asked, confused, as she dropped a nearby photo into the fire.

Setsuna's face disappeared for a moment as she bent and picked it up. Her face was unreadable as she studied it intensely. "That's her, all right. Sakura is a princess. Or was," she corrected herself.

"_What?"_

"Makoto, Sailor Jupiter, had a little sister named Sakura in the Silver Millennium. She was actually considered a disappointment because she appeared to have no magic, and she was only ten when Metallia killed them all."

"Oh. Well, I invited here to train for the summer and she came. I got her a protection sphere as soon as I could and found out that she was not only innercore in potential, she was innercore in _green _potential. Right after that, Kurai Akumu dragged her and my son Li to the DreamWorld; he reportedly dumped her almost four thousand miles away and told her to come get Li by the end of two weeks or he died. She traveled for twelve days and when she got to Akumu's, he had killed Li. She got really angry, released the potential, and ended up killing Akumu and using her new power to bring Li back to life, then somehow getting them home. [AN: jeez, what a mouthful!] She was asleep for two days, then woke up, and when I asked about her new power she said it felt like the power of the planets and that she had used the sun-power to bring Li back. Setsuna, she's the Warrior."

"This little girl?" she asked in amazement, glancing down at the picture.

"Yes, and she's got totally untrained celestial power. It was only luck that she mastered the sun aspect and that it was the first one to come to her versus...oh, say, Saturn. She could have destroyed the DreamWorld entirely, and we can't count on that luck again."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Come here," Yelan said bluntly. "Get all of the Senshi together and come here. We've got more than enough room to hold you, and you can teleport here, but to leave Sakura untrained is suicidal. I don't have the experience or power to train her, and your Senshi do."

"Of course we'll come." Setsuna met her gaze solemnly. "The girls can be irresponsible some times, but they'll understand this. How soon do you want us there?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Can do. I'll let you know when we're coming through." Setsuna's face disappeared from the flames and Yelan doused the fire. _Gods above, let this work. Sakura and Li are the only ones who can pull this off, and the Sailor Senshi are our only hope._

[AN: Meanwhile...]

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****

No one in particular/3rd person

Aino Minako slumped over the low table inside the Shinto shrine. "I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo booooorrrrrrrrreedddd...." she whined. "There's nothing to do, and it's TOO HOT!!!!!"

"Complaining won't help," Rei shot back, irritation making her voice sharp. Looking over, she saw Usagi Tsukino had fallen asleep on her bed again. "Usaaagiiii! WAKE UP!" she bellowed in the blonde's ear.

"Honestly, Usagi," Chibiusa snapped, "How long do you _really_ need to sleep?"

"What?" Usagi lifter her head and blinked with confusion. "I don't wanna eat my brussel sprouts," she muttered sleepily. "Is Mamoru back yet?"

"No, Usagi," Minako sighed. "He's at college, remember? Getting his teaching degree?"

"Oh yeah."

Makoto watched her friend wryly and thought back to the days when she had been the Moon Princess. Being a political figure from birth had made her more solemn, cautious, and honestly less annoying, but still the Usagi they all knew and loved. Memory flooded her mind in a rush.

__

Makoto was walking in one of the Royal Gardens of Jupiter with Usagi and her little sister. What had she been called? Sakura, that was it. The little girl clutched her hand, skipping along, and Makoto remembered how, unlike most sisters, they were best friends. Sakura never destroyed Makoto's possessions; Makoto never bullied her. If someone was picking on Sakura, Makoto ensured that they never would again. If their mother was being hard on Makoto, Sakura would cry and hug her big sister, and Honesty would soften.

The little girl turned her face up to Makoto, emerald eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Soft, ginger brown hair framed the cherubic face bobbing somewhere around her elbow. For a seven-year-old, Sakura was tall, but that helped her in their self-defense classes. "Can we find some vinelilies?" she chirped. "They're my favorite." 

What had happened to Sakura? Where was she now?

Makoto snapped back into reality as Ami said, "Minako, if you're bored why don't you read _War and Peace?_ It's a bit long, but it's good, and I've read it fourteen times."

"Not surprising," Haruka remarked dryly, leaning on the doorframe. "Rei, your grandfather let us in."

"You always were the model student," Michiru added, smiling. 

"Welcome back!" Hotaru said ecstatically.

"Yeah, long time no see!"

"Where've you been?"

"No, where _haven't _you been?"

Usagi, no longer asleep, stood up and walked around the table. "It's good to see you," she said quietly, and Setsuna noted how much defeating Galaxia had changed her. 

"It's good to see you all again too," she replied. "May we come in?"

"Of course, make yourselves at home." Rei motioned to the now unoccupied bed, and they sat.

"So..." Makoto said slowly. "What brings you here?"

"Funny you asked," Haruka said. "We've got a proposal from one of Setsuna's friends."

"Yelan wants-no, needs us to come to her home outside of Hong Kong. It's a long story," Setsuna explained.

"We've got time," Usagi said, sitting down.

"It all started long ago, at the founding of the planetary kingdoms, when the Moon Kingdom was designated as the home of the Imperium Crystal and the Queen of the Solar System divided her kingdom into the planetary domains. The planets all swore to protect the crystal, no matter what, but some of the corrupt political leaders of the one-kingdom government, who were partially responsible for the dissolvement of the kingdom and their own government, did not. Instead, they fled to Metallia and swore their fealty to her. She granted them magic, and they became members of Beryl's guard. They escaped entrapment within the Imperium crystal because Metallia ordered them to refrain from the attack on the Moon Kingdom. When they heard she was gone, a thirteenth supporter, Lady Hei Long, who had been a courtier on Jupiter, rose to command them. Under her rule, they each grew even more powerful than Metallia, with Hei Long the strongest of all. They didn't interfere with Sailor Moon's battles because she isn't considered a threat. Sorry, Usagi. They're all still out there, watching and waiting."

"For what?" Rei breathed.

"For the right opportunity to take Earth. There is one thing they have to get past, though."

"What is it?"

"The Warrior. Clow Reed, one of Earth's greatest and most revolutionary magicians of the past, read it in a stone from the center of the earth itself. We hold more to the puzzle, because we can read the stars. They told us at the beginning of time that a dark shadow would wait for a time to strike the earth, and the one who could stop them was the Warrior; a twice-living one who would destroy the DarkLords. The first queen read this, and sent the prophecy to the center of the earth, where it was written in the most simple and powerful of languages and encrypted on a stone, then sent to the surface. It never became clear whether there was actually two Warriors or one, but the giveaway was that she—it was definitely a she—would have the celestial power."

"What's the celestial power?" Chibiusa asked.

"A combination of all our powers and the power of the sun."

Makoto frowned. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because we found her," Setsuna said blandly. "The Warrior did live twice, like all of us, because she _is _one of us. Sakura was Makoto's younger sister, a princess of Jupiter, but she was killed in Metallia's attack. Like everyone else, she was reborn on this earth. It turned out that she was gifted with the type of magic Clow Reed created in this life too and she accidentally released the cards he had created. After catching them all again with the assistance of one of Clow Reed's descendants, Li Showron, she made them stronger. A friend of mine, Yelan Showron, invited her to train for the summer at her home in Hong Kong, but the least of the DarkLords, Kurai Akumu, kidnapped Sakura and Li. Akumu dragged them to the DreamWorld, dropped Sakura nearly 4000 miles away, and gave her two weeks to get there before he killed Li. She arrived in twelve days, found Li dead, and unlocked her potential magic. She killed Akumu, used the sun aspect of her power to bring Li back to life, and got em both back. The problem is the DarkLords aren't too happy about her killing Akumu, and chances are that they've figured out that Sakura is the Warrior. She needs as much training and protection as possible, and we're the only ones with the same powers as her. Yelan needs us to come to her home outside Hong Kong and train Sakura. It'll take a long time, and we'll need to help fight the DarkLords; that isn't a question, but we can't afford not to go."

"Think about it," Haruka added. "This girl is more powerful than all of us combined, and she hasn't even become the Warrior yet. She has all our powers and more; it's sheer luck that she didn't blow up the world in a fit of pique."

"Wow," Chibiusa sighed. "Pluto, is this Lady Sakura?"

"Yes." Setsuna turned to speak to everyone. "Neo-queen Serenity has a right-hand woman who usually protects Crystal Tokyo from mostly anything. When the Dark Moon family came, they lured her and her partner out to the edge of the solar system and attacked the kingdom in their absence. When they returned, they were unprepared to meet the sleep spell and were immediately caught under it."

"She's such a wonderful person...when I saw her last, she was about twenty." Chibiusa could picture her in her mind—knee-length ginger-brown hair, tall for a woman, eyes greener than moss; power practically radiated from her, but it was controlled power. Lady Sakura was never rude but always nice, and she always had a smile for everyone. More importantly, she never had treated Chibiusa like a baby or told her to go bother someone else, like so many of the other nobles would. Instead, she'd tell her funny stories about her experiences with the Clow Cards and her guardians, Kero and Yue. Kero went everywhere with Lady Sakura, partially so he could stuff his face with any wayward food. She was one of the most respected people in court with her aptitude for politics and diplomacy; no matter how heated an argument was, she could wade in and soothe feelings on both sides with an almost supernatural ability. "Setsuna, is she the same in this time as she is in the 30th century?"

"Sadly, no. She's shyer and much less confident, and doesn't have the court experience yet. But Yelan says she's still as sweet as ever." Sailor Pluto pulled out a photo and handed it to Minako. "This was her two years ago, with her partner Li."

"Oh, KAWAII!!!!!" Minako squealed as the others gathered around her. "I remember her now—little Princess Sakura, the one who was the Heir to Jupiter! She was soooo cute and not annoying at all. _God, _she was adorable!"

Chibiusa stayed in her seat, knowing there was no way she could see the photograph unless Minako passed it to her: the others were too tall to see past. Sakura had mentioned her partner often, but Li hadn't come to court yet. He was about to when Chibiusa had left for training in this time. "Can I see?" 

Minako passed her the picture as Setsuna added, "Sakura's best friend Madison took this picture when they caught the Time card. Sakura didn't have to transform like we do, so her friend would dress her up in the insane outfits she made. Supposedly, some came out okay...and some didn't."

Chibiusa stared at the picture in her hand. Lady Sakura was in an odd, fairy-like costume and conversing with a boy next to her. They were encased in blue bubbles, and her hair was cropped very short. She looked so much younger that it was scary, but that wasn't what captivated Chibiusa's gaze. She couldn't take her eyes off the boy in green. _That must be Li,_ she thought dreamily. _Boy, is he fine. I am **so** going on this trip._ "How-how old were they when Madison took this picture?"

"Around eleven. They're both about your age, but Li knows how to use his power already. He's got elemental magic, and it's lucky Yelan got him trained, or we could be suffering from a lot of mishaps right now."

"Well? Are we going?" Chibiusa asked. "It sounds like an...._urgent _issue, and I think we need to leave as soon as possible."

Minako, Rei, and Ami traded amused glances. They had seen this look on Chibiusa's face before. "I don't know..." Rei said slowly. "If it's all right with Usagi...she's our leader, after all. And if we're all free." 

Ami winked at Rei, saying, "Let me check my planner." She slowly thumbed through it, knowing very well that she had nothing booked that summer at all. "Nope, computer camp..." Chibiusa paled and looked like she'd pass out. "...wait, that's next summer."

"I'm free," Makoto said. 

"Me too," Usagi added. "Anyone not free?" Nobody moved, and she said, "Then it's settled." They were going.

Everyone was leaving to go pack, but when Chibiusa stood up, Setsuna called, "Small Lady? A word with you?" She nodded and Setsuna pulled her aside. "You can't tell Sakura anything about her future," she said gravely. "Not a word, or anything might happen."

"Not even that she's a Senshi?"

__

"Especially that she's a Senshi." Setsuna gazed solemnly at her. "This is of utmost importance."

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "She told me she didn't find out she was a Senshi until—"

"Until she had become the Warrior. That's why you can't breathe a word of this to her."

"I swear I won't," Chibiusa said firmly. "Princess's honor."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AN: Jeez...I'm getting tired.... forget about writer's cramps, we're talking typer's finger paralysis!]

****

Sakura

When I woke the next morning, I found that I had more energy than I had thought. The first thing I did was take a bath. I never thought hot water could feel so good, but when I got out, wrapped myself in a towel, and went to the wardrobe to get something to wear all my clothes were gone. In their place were several sets of shirts and pants like the ones Yelan had given me the last time I had visited. With a mental shrug, I donned a pair, then dried my hair as best I could and pulled it into a short ponytail, noticing it was almost time for a haircut. 

__

Wait a minute, I thought. _I always wanted to grow my hair out, but Dad assumed I wanted it short. He isn't here now, so why shouldn't I let it grow? It's my hair, after all. And I'm thirteen, old enough to start making my own decisions._ My newfound

independence made me stand a little straighter and gave me a little more confidence. I strode out into my overlarge foyer, as I thought of it, and was met by Yelan walking in the door. "Oh good, you're up. It's breakfast time, and afterwards I thought we'd start your training." [AN: Like martial arts training—no, the Senshi aren't here yet!]

"Okay," I said nervously. At breakfast, I ate fast, avoiding Li's eyes and ignoring the people who kept on looking in the doorway, wide-eyed, until Yelan gave them her glare. Now I saw where Li had gotten that look he had given me when we first met.

Yelan finished soon after I did, and as soon as she stood up, I sprang out of my seat and followed her to an open courtyard. It was clearly meant for training of the physical kind, with targets, practice weapons, and other tools all on racks or in neat rows. There was a door in one wall; she walked over to it and turned around to speak with me. "This is a test room. I want to see how fast your reflexes are and how you'd react in a battle situation and this is the best way to find out. On one end of the room is a yellow scarf. Your job is to get that scarf and bring it back. There will be a series of obstacles to get past, and you have to do it as fast as possible without using magic. Try not to get hit be anything. Any

questions?" I shook my head, and she opened the door. "Good luck."

I stepped inside. The interior was dark, but as soon as the door clicked shut behind me, the room was lit by steady white light from an unseen source. The test room was more of a hall than a room, with no visible obstructions and the yellow scarf hanging limply at the far-off end. _There has to be some catch, _I thought as I surveyed the floor. There was nothing, so I silently started forward. The brief quiet was broken by a slight click, and I stopped. Looking at the walls on either side of me, I saw dozens of tiny holes open and sprang back instantly as a hard, round ball shot by. Soon each hole was spitting out the marble-sized balls. It would be impossible to pass without getting hit. 

I bit my lip and studied my surroundings more intensely. The bullets only went as high as my head, but they also went down to the floor, so I couldn't crawl under. _There are four ways to get past something,_ I thought. _Go over, under, around, or through it._ _Around and under aren't options, and as far as I can tell through isn't either; so that leaves over._

Looking up, I saw three round bars four feet above the holes. If I stayed in the splits for most of the time, I could flip and swing my way from bar to bar. Clenching my jaw, I backed up and sprinted forward. With a jump, I stretched out my hands and caught the first bar, then went into the splits, keeping my feet out of the firing range. I swung back and forth, gathering speed and momentum with each swing, until finally I released the bar, tucked myself into a ball, somersaulted through the air, then uncurled myself and seized the second bar. I swung again, and this time I went completely over the bar before I let go. I flipped myself and caught the bar with my knees. Reaching up, I gripped the bar with my hands and went into the splits once more, swung myself onto the top of the bar, crouched there, then sprang off and landed gently outside the range of fire.

With a sigh of relief, I faced the next challenge and dropped to the floor as a sheet of wood shot overhead. It turned out that I would have to crawl on my belly under the flying wood, so I unhappily did.

Finally past that, I straightened up and found the yellow scarf ten yards away with nothing in between it and me. This was too easy. I hesitated warily, and sure enough several bars of metal hit the walls, pulled back, and shot out again from somewhere totally different. I stared at them for a moment, then dove through two, rolled to lessen the impact and to get out of the way of another, jumped up, hopped over another, and handsprang over and through the last few. Panting, I tied the scarf to my wrist and turned back to the bars. They were still flying out of nowhere. With a deep breath, I ran back into their midst. _This oughta be interesting_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I followed silently as Mother led Sakura to the basic training court, still cursing Mei Lin for tricking me into admitting that I liked Sakura. _It's your own fault,_ I reminded myself. _You weren't thinking._

Surprisingly, when I got to the courtyard Mother was about to let Sakura into the Test room. I joined her at the wall that was a one-sided window and watched as she studied the options for getting past the bullets. Oddly, Sakura was staring at the water pipes instead of the walls, and a moment later she backed up, then ran forward. For an instant I thought she saw the pattern in the firing, but she jumped up, grabbed the first pipe, went into the splits as I winced [AN:^_^" At the talent shows in my school, whenever there's a dance routine and a girl goes into the splits, all of the guys in the audience go "Aw, man!"], then swung back and forth. _What is she doing?_ I wondered. My unspoken question was answered a moment later as she somersaulted to the next pipe.

"You said she's gymnast trained?" Mother asked dryly. 

"Yeah," I confirmed ruefully, "and she's always been a bit—er—original." The time where she'd hit the Fight card over the head with the sealing wand came to mind as I tried not to laugh.

"You'll have to tell me about that sometime. It sounds interesting." Mother's gave shifted back to Sakura as she swung from her knee, switched somehow to her hands, and did something complicated that resulted in her jumping off the third pipe and landing outside the bullet range. The sheet of wood came out of nowhere, but she dropped automatically. "Nice response," Mother commented. After crawling under them, Sakura hesitated instead of going straight for the scarf. "Wise." We watched as the metal bars hit the wall with a ring and Sakura jumped, dove, and flipped through them. "Not bad. Not bad at all," Mother said blandly. "Sakura appears to be a natural." We watched silently as she returned with considerable ease, still using the bars. Sakura opened the door as Mother stopped the clock. "One minute, thirty-seven point five seconds," she read, shutting off the wall. It returned to its normal, stone gray opaqueness.

Sakura walked over and handed Mother the scarf, barely even breathing hard. "What's next?"

She pointed to a series of horizontal bars. "Go over those. You can only touch the ground five times."

Obediently, she sprinted toward them and did five handsprings over them, landing in a handstand. Sakura flipped right side up, then turned to face us as a ball of fire appeared next to Mother. "One moment," she called to Sakura, then walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Yelan/3rd Person

Yelan turned to the ball of fire with Setsuna's face "Are you ready to come?" she asked. Setsuna had confirmed all of the Senshi would be coming, and the rooms were ready.

"Yes. Is everything ready?" Setsuna asked. At her nod, she said, "Let me see a good landing spot; we need a destination."

She moved to show her the courtyard. "Sakura's much better than I expected at obstacles."

"Of course," Setsuna replied. "The Jupiter royal family members were strong believers in non-magical self defense as well as magical. Jupiter power includes almost supernatural athletic ability, and Sakura was trained especially hard because she was second eldest and heir to the throne. In fact, she was in training since she could talk, and I'd bet part of her remembers that. Throw anything at her back and she'll nail it. Go on, try it."

Yelan picked up a nearby block of wood and hurled it at Sakura's back, prepared to use magic to stop it. It was about to hit her when Sakura twisted, jumped into the air, and shattered it with a kick.

Splinters rained down around the girl's slender frame as she landed and stared at what was left of the block and at Yelan, wide-eyed. "We definitely need to work with you. You've never ever had a martial arts class before?" Sakura violently shook her head, and Yelan turned back to the fireball. "I see what you mean. It's all set, come on through." The fireball vanished, and Yelan shouted to Sakura and Li, 

"Get away from the center—the Sailor Senshi are about to come through!" They scrambled back and a moment later multi-colored, sparkling fire appeared in the center. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I watched nervously as the fire in the center of the courtyard twisted, forming ten shapes. In a moment, ten women flickered into existence and I could see the Senshi. There was a brief, overwhelming moment where they finished teleporting and the courtyard was still, their faces peaceful and majestic.

Then the effect was ruined as Sailor Moon fell on Sailor Mars, who promptly fell on Sailor Chibimoon.

"Ow!"

"Usagi, get _off _me!"

"Sorry, Rei." Sailor Moon straightened and helped up the others, looking around. "Setsuna, is this it?"

"Yes."

"Good," Sailor Jupiter muttered. For some reason, she looked vaguely familiar. " I_ really_ don't want to do that again."

"Now, Makoto, it wasn't that bad," insisted a black cat I recognized as Luna. Artemis and Diana nodded in agreement.

"Oh yes it was," she retorted. "Minako can't teleport worth crap, and I had to drag her with me!"

"Welcome to our home," Yelan called from the wall "Li, Sakura, come say hello to the guests."

I walked shyly over and hid behind her as Sailor Pluto said, "Yelan, thank you for having us here. These are the Senshi, Luna, Artemis, and Diana."

"Thank you for coming, Setsuna. This is Li—" Yelan pulled him forward, and Sailor Chibimoon shook his hand violently "—and this is Sakura." She stepped aside and I stuttered a greeting, awe-struck. Setsuna moved forward and whispered something in Yelan's ear, and Yelan nodded, glancing at me. 

"Luna," Setsuna said with a jerk of her head in my direction.

"Right." Luna hurried forward. "Sakura, you're going to want to kneel down for this." I obeyed as the crescent moon on her forehead started glowing.

__

Everything faded. With a rush, I fell through ten years of a life--my life. I saw myself practicing punches on a dummy, visiting a palace on the moon with my older sister, gazing at the crown I would someday wear.

****

"A disgrace to the family," a low, cruel female voice purred. **"No magic...it's such a shame that girl will be the queen."**

"Mommy, why do the courtiers say those things about me?" I heard myself ask. "**Why am I so different?"**

"They think you have no magic, Sakura. They are wrong, but you mustn't tell anyone that. You are heir to the Jupiter throne; people will always say things about you that aren't true. Your job is to ignore them."

I saw the looks courtiers gave me that they thought I had missed, saw them whisper to eachother, and saw foremost a courtier with long hair and red-orange eyes. Wherever she went, rumors to ruin my reputation followed, but like my mother had told me, I would hold my chin high and ignore her. Lessons on politics, language, court manners, and Jupiter's laws raced through my mind; memories of Makoto, my older sister flashed past. "**She should be queen**," whispered a voice in another overheard conversation. **"Assertive and strong, and gifted with Jupiter's power. It's such a shame."**

Thirteen years of life flooded my mind, then my death at the hands of Beryl. I saw Makoto fighting Beryl and losing; saw my beloved older sister, my role model die. Then the wall collapsed on my while Beryl laughed and it was all bleak and black. An image of a silver-haired woman filled my darkened vision. I knew it was Moon Queen Serenity from my memories. 

"This is you, Sakura. These things really happened. You died and so did Makoto, and all of the others. You were reincarnated to this life, but don't forget your past one You still are the last princess and heiress of Jupiter, and you still carry a gift to protect the world. Your power hasn't finished growing, Sakura, and it never will. You will eventually be strong enough to tear the universe down, but that must never happen or the forces of chaos will reign. You need the power, and you need love to unlock it further. Never forget that. Use your knowledge and your powers well."

She disappeared, and I opened my eyes to more darkness. 

Voices were all around me.

"Is she okay?"

"Someone check her pulse!"

"Luna, what happened?"

"What's wrong?"

"Remember when Usagi got all of her Moon Princess memories back?" I heard her voice say somewhere off to the right as a hand took my wrist and pressed on it, feeling for my heartbeat. 

"She fainted," Ami—I knew all of the Senshi from my new memories– answered promptly. "You said it was too much for her mind to handle at once."

"Right. Sakura led a very complicated life as heir to Jupiter's throne. It's unsurprising that she reacted like this." 

My vision cleared, and to my humiliation I saw everybody crowded around me. Everybody but Li—where was he? Then I realized that someone was holding me in a sitting position. Twisting to see who it was, I found someone's face very close to mine.

It was Li.

"Uh, thanks," I said, blushing furiously. "What happened?"

"Luna used her mind-meld to bring back your memories, but after a few seconds you passed out," came an awfully familiar voice.

Unexpected tears sprang into my eyes as I focused on Sailor Jupiter's face and whispered, "Makoto?"

She hugged me fiercely and said, "I missed having my little sister around so much!"

"I missed you too," I said. After a moment, we let go and she stood up, grinning affectionately down at me.

"Need some help?" To my horror, Sailor Moon—no, Princess Serenity_ herself _was offering me a hand. "I won't bite."

I gingerly took it and was immediately hauled to my feet. Started, I said, "Thanks, Usagi."

"Hey, we old kingdom girls gotta stick together!" Minako said like we were old friends. Then I remembered that in the Silver Millennium, we _had _been old friends. 

Life was getting more and more interesting by the minute.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I felt a little left out watching the Senshi greet Sakura like they had known her all their lives, not to mention a little jealous. I had known her for years (okay, only three) and she hadn't warmed up to me for the first few minutes, but she was treating them like they were all best friends. _Of course, it helps that they didn't glare at her for the first five hours they saw her, then try to take the Clow Cards for no apparent reason,_ that annoying voice in my head reminded me. _And I believe you haven't heard the words pathetic' or hopeless' from any of **them** yet._

Suddenly I realized that one of the Senshi wasn't greeting Sakura; in fact, she wasn't even looking at her. Sailor Chibimoon was looking only at me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

A few hours later, they had all settled in and we were trading stories about what we'd been doing since we'd been reborn when Ami said suddenly, "Sakura, how would you like your first lesson?"

"Really? In Mercury magic?" I asked.

"Yes—or more accurately, in using it to find exactly where you are." She paused and added, "There are many variations on this spell, including finding where someone else is in relation to you, where an object is, and the like. I'll show you later, once you've gotten used to the original spell."

"Right," I said. "Basics first."

"Absolutely." Ami looked around. "Could someone get me a bowl of water?"

"Wait, I think I can make one," I said. 

"Can you really?" Minako said with concern. "We don't want to wear you out."

"You won't," Luna said positively. "Creation is part of the sun's influence on her power, and as the largest celestial body it carries the most strength. Creating a bowl for her would be as easy as making one out of play-dough."

"Right, " I said in assent. "Besides, I want to do this. I need to know if I can." The others nodded, and I closed my eyes in concentration. There it was: the green fire in my heart that people told me was celestial power. _Sun, _I told' it, and it obligingly grew and gained burning gold streaks. Mentally, I pushed the image of a water-filled bowl at it, and the gold streaks flared. Opening my eyes, I saw the actual floor shift and writhe to form my bowl. There was total silence, then Ami slid off of her chair and knelt beside it, saying, "Actually, a brook or puddle or any form of water will work for us, but still, clear water works best." 

I knelt opposite her and asked, "So how does it start?"

"Look in the bowl and repeat after me: _Guardian Mercury, show me where I am._"

__

"Guardian Mercury, show me where I am," I said, and to my surprise my green fire shone icy blue, matching the bowl's glow. 

"Now look in it," Ami commanded softly.

What happened next is hard to explain. It was almost as if my vision three-dimensional, but it didn't. The water showed me the structure of the house, and where I was in it, then withdrew and showed me where I was in the city, then in the country, then on earth, then in the solar system, then in the galaxy, and last of all and most awe-inspiring, where I was in the universe. 

I dragged my gaze from the star-flecked surface with difficulty. "Whoa. Now that was scary."

"Isn't it, though?" Ami laughed. 

Rei chimed in, saying, "She showed us once, just after we'd defeated Galaxia and she'd discovered the spell. I felt sick and insignificant for a week."

"It is really overwhelming," Hotaru added. "But then, so was Pharaoh 90."

"Getting back to the lesson, I've got a few things to add," Ami said with mock sternness. "First, occasionally the Mercury -power will show you something without you having to call on it. If you think it has something to tell you, just touch water and it should activate. If you actually don't need it, it won't react. Second, you can say the incantation without using water, but it'll take much more strength. Third, Mercury-power has more uses and different spells than this. Mercury itself is the planet of communication, and so it can tell you things. It also gives you control over fresh water and ice, but not seawater. That's Neptune's domain."

"And I'll show you how to use seawater for a similar spell," Michiru added. "One of the properties of water, salt or fresh, is clarity. Fresh shows location, but seawater reflects, showing you how other people see you. In other words, you can learn to read minds."

"Fire may show you the future occasionally," Rei said seriously, "but it requires deep concentration and Mars-power, not to mention the fire's cooperation. It's a difficult spell."

"Everything is difficult in the world of magic," Hotaru said soberly. "You have powers we have, so we can help you, but it'll still be difficult."

"There'll be people out there who will attempt to kill your friends and family. They may succeed in doing so." Setsuna surveyed me, her gaze belying no emotions. "Training will be strenuous. You'll have difficulty mastering major spells. There will be days when all you want to do is crawl into your bed and die, so you won't have to face another day. Think you're up to it?"

I swallowed, hard. _No! No! No!_ my mind screamed, but I said with determination, "Yes. If you guys are right and Li and I are the only ones who can stop the DarkLords from destroying the world, then I don't have the right to sacrifice millions of lives because I couldn't handle the training."

"Good answer." Haruka, who had been silent for most of the discussion, had something in her voice that told me she understood—understood the weight of a million lives on my shoulder, understood the pressure of being the only one who could deal with something that threatened the world, understood the frustrations of working with someone who thought they knew what was best but was terribly wrong. Haruka knew. A silent understanding passed between us as she added, "You'll do."

The next day, Minako met with me for training in Venus magic. 

"Ours is the magic of energy and emotions," she declared loftily. "First of all, can you tell me how to use your enemy's emotions as a weapon?"

"Umm...by causing anger and fighting among themselves?" I hazarded.

"Exactly. If the DarkLords argue and don't trust eachother, they won't work together well at all." By the end of the day, I had learned exactly what we were allowed to influence and what we weren't. 

Makoto was next. "You've seen the whole media blitz," she said wryly that morning, "so you know I throw around lightning. Basically, we can control weather and mainly lightning, which is pretty cool." I learned how to summon minor lightning that day.

Each day was like that. I spent the full day with a Senshi, learning how to use that power and nothing else. Because I knew how to use my sun-power, no one had to teach me, but Chibiusa and Usagi both taught me about the Moon-power at the same time, which more than made up for that. 

By the end of July, I had mastered the basic spells and was starting more advanced ones. Midway through August, I could coat a bed-sized object in ice three feet thick, find a certain pebble in the bottom of a pond, incinerate a small tree, occasionally predict the future, summon a small thundercloud, throw a weak lightning bolt, and more things at the medium level. Makoto and I were best friends like we had been in the Silver Millennium, but I often found myself missing Madison, Rita, Nikki, and Chelsea back home at Tomoeda. Apart from meals, I never saw Mei Lin or Li and I missed them too. Oddly, I'd sometimes look up in the middle of a meal, while was Usagi stuffing her face, and find Li staring at me, but then we'd both quickly look away and start talking to the person next to us. 

Then, in the third week of August, I awoke in the morning heat to find Yelan standing in the doorway.

"Good morning," I said drowsily, sitting up and trying to wake up as well.

"Training changes today," she said cordially, as though we were discussing politics over tea. "Now, every other day you and Li will train together. On the other days the Senshi will train you as normal."

She left as I sat, my mind reeling with shock. I knew the day would come when—as Kero and Yelan had told me—Li and I would have to be trained to work as a team, but I didn't want it to be now. With a resigned sigh, I dragged myself out of bed, bathed, and dressed as usual. After an awkward breakfast, Yelan directed us to the smaller training courtyard and said it was prepared.' I had no clue what she meant but found out soon enough.

It was fire-, thunder-, and water-proofed. The Senshi were waiting, and when we walked in informed us that they would be attacking us and we were to defend. I was automatically thinking of the defense spells Haruka had taught me as they left, but when fire roared into the room a moment later, it was Li who shot water out of his sword and quenched it all immediately. I was a little set back, but prepared for the next attack.

It was thunder. I watched, uncomfortable, as Li sent matching thunder out and knocked it away. I wanted to tell him I could handle some of the attacks too, but....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Senshi/3rd person 

Makoto stared, aghast, as she watched Li fend off another attack. "That—arrogant—little—" she growled, not bothering to keep her voice down. [AN: she and Tori have way too much in common! ^_^'] Rei shot her a glare, and she clenched her teeth and counted to ten. It didn't help. "Sakura doesn't even get a chance at anything! He doesn't let her!" 

Minako grabbed her arm and dragged her to a corner. "Shut up, Makoto," she hissed. "Don't you see? She's shying from him because she doesn't want to offend him. Sakura _likes_ Li, and from what I'm getting he likes her too. His pride was just about killed when she saved his ass. Mei Lin told me he's not used to having anyone be a match for him, and he's desperately trying to hold onto a scrap of dignity."

"Oh." Makoto relaxed slightly, then scowled and added, "That doesn't mean he gets to push her around, though!"

"Agreed." Minako released her and added, "She needs to show him she can handle herself."

They walked back. "How's it going?" Makoto asked almost hopefully.

"Tortuously." Hotaru's dejection showed plainly. "Sakura hasn't had a chance to counter anything yet."

"Wait, she's saying something!" Usagi said, her face pressed to the one-sided window. "Ami, help us out, will ya?"

"Mercury, grant us communication! Let us hear!" Ami glowed blue, and Sakura's voice filled the room.

"Umm," she said softly, "I think I ca handle something, Li."

"Of course she can!" Haruka exploded. "I've taught her basic defense spells, this is a piece of cake for her!" Michiru hushed her and the room fell silent as Li merely grumbled in response.

"Should-should I?" she asked timidly, and he grumbled again, fighting off a gust of wind.

"O-okay." Sakura threw her head back and shouted, "Winds, shield us!" The air glowed a tawny yellow and two bubbles cut off the fire in the room from reaching them. The flames faded, but after a minute so did the shields.

"Dammit, why isn't she holding them?!" Haruka growled. "Yesterday she kept the hardest one yet up for half an hour! And against stronger attacks!"

"Stop it, you guys," Usagi said grimly. "Stop throwing stuff at em. We need to talk with Sakura."

"Can't you hold up a shield?" Li's voice suddenly snapped. "Some partner you are." He had realized the attacks had halted, and strode out of the room without a backward glance. [AN: Ouch on Sakura!]

The stunned silence in the room where the Senshi were hidden was only broken by a scuffle as Makoto, her eyes livid with rage, tried to break Minako's grip on her arms. "That—that—Minako, let me _go!_ I have to teach that little ass a lesson!"

"Makoto, get a grip! You can't go kicking around the hostess's son, or trust me, I'd be doing it now!" Minako forced her to meet her steely blue gaze "It's obvious he needs a really big ego-check and as tempting it is to do it ourselves, we can't. What we _can_ do is try to get Sakura to do it for us."

"But—"

"Look at her, Makoto." Makoto reluctantly turned to face the window. Sakura was leaning against a wall, her eyes full of tears. "We've got to get him to respect her now, or he never will. And Sakura has to be the one to do it."

She sighed in resignation and said wearily, "You're right. I'll talk to her, and then we'll come up with a plan."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AN: And now, the person whose ass we all want to kick very hard right now....]

****

Li

I leaned against the wall of the dark corridor, pushing my hair out of my eyes. It occurred to me that Sakura would have to come out of the door sometime soon, so I moved off, trudging to my rooms guiltily. It was hard sharing her attention with the Senshi. _What do you mean, **share?**_ the voice that had arrived with the Senshi said bitterly. I knew it was jealousy, but I also didn't care. _She spends every waking moment with them!_

She spends every waking moment **training** with them, my conscience said pointedly. 

__

It still isn't fair! They're taking her away from me!

Was she yours to begin with? I didn't think so. And now you've gone and taken it out on her. She doesn't have a clue about why you acted this way, you know. You used to treat her decently, but now you just blew up in her face for trying to help. And I don't think not letting her take any of the attacks won you any Brownie points, either. She thinks it's her fault, you can tell if you look in her eyes. Have you ever seen the kind of pain that you saw in Sakura's eyes today? You hurt her.

Leave me alone! I thought stubbornly. _It's not my fault! She's gonna have to get used to me being the leader! I'm the strongest! And besides, she's a princess! She shouldn't care! She doesn't need my help and I don't need hers! I could defeat the DarkLords all on my own!_

There's no I' in team,' chief. Weren't you just saying something along the lines of "Some partner you are"? Whatever happened to that partnership? Or have you decided it doesn't work for you anymore?

I said leave me **alone! **I angrily punched a dummy hanging from the ceiling, and it snapped off of the line, thudding into a wall. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

"Sakura?"

I raised my head from the pillows and frantically tried to hide the fact that I had been crying. "Uh, come in," I sniffed, sitting up.

"Sakura—" Makoto came in and sat down awkwardly on the bed. "We heard...you know, back there—and we all agree."

"What?"

"You have to stand up to him. It isn't right for him to push you around like that, and you have to let him know."

"I know," I said miserably. "But he makes me feel so lowly and stupid...and pathetic."

"You aren't!" Makoto said with surprising vehemence "Honestly, girl, you're the last heir to the kingdom of Jupiter and you're stronger than all of the Senshi put together, and you fell lowly and pathetic?!?! _You are friggin **royalty!!!**_ There's _no_ way _you_ could be lowly!"

"You're right," I admitted reluctantly. "I just have to tell myself that."

"Good." Makoto stood up and patted my back. "We're here for you. And Sakura?" She turned in the doorway, looking over her shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Things will change for you. I guarantee it." And I was left to wonder what she meant.

The next morning, I found out. When I walked into my meeting room, I found the Senshi waiting for me. Hotaru handed me a backpack and a muffin, saying, "Eat."

I obliged, asking through mouthfuls, "What's going on?"

"It's apparent that your partner needs a lesson in teamwork," Setsuna said.

"So we're dumping you two a few miles from here, with Yelan's permission. She's as...displeased with him as we are, but agrees this is the best way to deal with it. He's going to need you to get back, because we'll be messing with him," Usagi said with a grin.

Rei winked and said, "He doesn't know about Mercury magic, and that we'll be messing him up if he leaves you. The minute he gets outside a ten-foot radius of you, Usagi and Minako will confuse him, and Ami will get him back to you. We'll see how long it takes for him to figure it out." They were treating it like a big joke, but I really did not want to spend a day getting lost with Li in the mood he was in. 

Too bad. Within an hour, they had dropped us in a clearing and went back to wait in the mansion.

There was tense silence; then Li said, "Let's go this way." He pointed somewhere off to the left. I wasn't so sure.

"Are you positive?" I asked. "I mean, no offense or anything, but—"

"I'm going," he interrupted. "You can follow if you want." With a sigh, I followed. He knew the lay of the land better than I did, and there was no water to see if the Mercury-power could help us. 

One hour passed, then two, and still no sign of the mansion. I was bored but not really tired when we found a stream. Heaving an inner sigh of relief, I dipped a few fingers in. Blue light filled my vision, then faded as a previously unnoticed trail manifested in front of me. "Um, Li?" I called softly.

"What?" he barked gruffly, not even turning around.

"I-I think I know which way to go," I stammered.

"No you don't. You'll only get us lost," he said scornfully.

That galled me. "And we aren't already?"

This time he turned around. "Don't you _dare_ talk to me like that," he snarled. "We aren't even close to lost. I know exactly where we are, and I'm not going to take any..."

I watched him yell at me, hurt. What had happened to the nice guy I had brought back to life? [AN: God, that sounds weird _What had happened to the nice guy I brought back to life?_]Tears started to creep into my eyes.

"...what kind of magician do you think you are? I'm obviously stronger than..."

__

"You have to stand up to him." Makoto's voice echoed suddenly in my memory.

"...are you crazy? You come here, thinking you're something special but..."

__

"It isn't right for him to push you around like that, and you have to let him know."

"...are you even listening to me? I feel like I'm talking to tree, but that's an insult to the tree! You're so—"

I snapped, and before I knew it I was screaming, "LI, SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!" My fury must have had an effect on my magic, because green flames erupted around me, mirroring my emotions. "I don't know_ what_ your problem is but _don't _take it out on me! Just because my magic is telling me what to do and yours isn't is no excuse to treat me like a friggin _dirt clod!_" [AN: wrong time of the month, I guess ^_^'] We stood there, glaring at eachother, but I was not going to back down. Using the Neptune-power, I read his thoughts.

__

She's right, I heard. He seemed almost to wake up. _I've been a total jackass to her for two days for no apparent reason and saying what I just did didn't help. Although I'm not sure she was listening..._

Suddenly lightning cracked overhead, followed by a roll of thunder.

"We've got to get out of here!" Li shouted. "If lightning strikes a tree and sets it on fire, the whole forest is dry enough to go up in flames! We've gotta warn my family, or the mansion could burn down!"

"Where's the highest point nearby?" I yelled over another clap of thunder. "I've got an idea!"

"I don't know! Can't you use your magic? And what—"

"Shut up!" I cut him off, adding, "I need to concentrate!" Calling up the Mercury magic once more, I learned that we had been actually walking on ridge the whole time and were just short of the summit. 

"I've got a job to do," I shouted as I took off. "Stay out of my way."

Fairly soon I cleared the trees and found the rocky peak in front of me. A wind picked up as I scaled the side and hoisted myself onto the flat miniature plateau. Standing, I took a deep breath and thought my plan over again. The logistics were simple-if Makoto and I had to put out energy to call up a storm, then to bring a storm down I had to take in its energy. I needed to store it, though, so with a twist of sun-power I created a few crystal globes. Setsuna had told me they would store energy, and I hoped she was right. I was on the highest point in the forest; this had to work.

I planted my feet firmly in the ground, stretched out my arms, threw my head back, and called in all the power I could feel in the storm. The result was that I was struck by several bolts of lightning at once. It didn't hurt much, just sort of tingled, but there was a lot of power in this storm—more than the crystals could hold, so I had to take it into myself. Then it really started hurting as I stuffed more energy into already full wells of magic. Finally, they were full to the most they could take, so I forced it into my veins, lungs, and everything. It had little effect on everything except my hair, which had been just brushing my shoulders. Now it shot down another foot, right at my elbow. "Crap," I said, irate. 

Then I got as look at my hands.

They were glowing.

__

Oh no, I thought as realization hit me. _Hotaru warned me about this. I pulled in too much energy—I'll have to burn it somehow. On the plus side, we won't need a flashlight._ With a sigh, which I seemed to be doing a lot that day, I clambered back down and turned to find Li standing with an awe-struck look on his face, rather like the time I had caught the Snow card with the Fiery. [AN: it's spelled Fiery, not Firey! Firey is NOT A WORD! I get so mad when people mess that up!] His expression cleared, and he said grudgingly, "Thanks." There was a long, awkward pause, then he added, "I'm sorry I've been..." he struggled for words.

"A jackass? A moron? Incredibly stupid?" I suggested astringently, still pretty mad about what he had said.

"All three," Li said guiltily. "I—I guess I was kind of jealous that you were spending all that time with the others. You were the first person in Tomoeda who was actually nice to me, and then we come here and find out that not only are you royalty and wanted dead by the most powerful Dark sorcerers known, but that you're also some kind of mythical warrior with a power that no one else has or can use. It's pretty overwhelming when your new partner might be the strongest magician in the world instead of you, has the power to raise the dead, and is a hero out of ancient legends. Besides, the thought of twelve more Akumus out to get us isn't exactly a comforting one."

"Oh." I paused and added, "You could have something. I mean, hasn't it occurred to you that I'm not too thrilled about this either? Getting you back was not a fun experience, and I'm not loving the idea of facing twelve people just as sick and twisted as him." A wisp of smoke floated past, and I looked down to see the straggly grass under my feet curling and shivering. A little flicker of fire shot up, and I jumped back with a startled "Crap!" Glaring balefully at it, I muttered, "I must be hotter than I thought. Side effect of the glowing, I guess." I mentally ordered it to go out, but the little flame still burned merrily, so I called up some of seawater and put it out. "Aack."

A snort of laughter behind me was quickly stifled as I whirled around and shot Li a dirty look. I wasn't glowing as much, so I held out my hand and asked, "Partners?"

"Partners." He took my hand but dropped it quickly with a startled curse. "Was that on purpose?" he asked darkly.

"What?"

"You're hot." 

"_What?!_" I felt my face get warm.

He held up his palm, which was red. "From the extra energy."

"Oh." I turned, gazing out down the ridge. The mansion was visible a few miles away. "I think I can burn some of this off getting us home."

"That's good—I don't want to deal with any more fires, storms, or other potential disasters."

I laughed. "Me neither. Uranus winds, take us to the mansion!"

A breeze picked up, then whipped into a frenzy, tossing my hair all around. It spun around each of us, then picked us up and threw us off the ridge. We fell for a split second but were caught by another gust and blown over the forest, landing gently at the steps of the mansion. I smiled at Li and he smiled back, warming me more than the glowing had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Senshi/3rd Person

"Okay, Ami! Let it go!"

Ami released the small, robotic bird and it flew away. She had programmed it to follow Li and Sakura as they went along, because Sakura would sense if they used spy magic. A tiny video camera was embedded in its head and Ami had altered a digital tracking device so that the tapings were sent back to a computer at the mansion, which was hooked up to a television. It was all so advanced that what was on the screen had happened less than a second ago.

The Senshi walked back to the room, accompanied by Yelan. She had been surprised and perturbed by her son's behavior, and decided to watch them as they played voyeurism. 

"Is it on?" Minako asked, grabbing a bowl of popcorn.

Ami switched on the television and the picture came on, full-color. "Yep!"

They watched in silence as Sakura followed Li through the forest. It wasn't too long before the video got pretty boring, despite the fact that they were going the wrong way. Then the two found a creek, and Sakura used her Mercury magic. "Um, Li?"

Yelan sat straighter, a frown on her face as Li snapped, "What?"

"I-I think I know which way to go," screen-Sakura stammered.

"No you don't." Yelan's frown deepened as Li added peevishly, "You'll only get us lost."

"And we aren't already?" This time, Sakura let a little irritation show.

"Oooh," Chibiusa said. "That's gotta sting."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! We're nowhere near lost..." Yelan scowled at the screen as Makoto yelped in outrage. 

"Makoto, shhh!" Rei hissed. Li continued to rail at Sakura as everyone cringed. The screen-Sakura seemed almost not to hear him but instead stare past him, hurt in her eyes. A tear almost fell from one emerald eye. 

"Come on, Sakura," Makoto whispered. "You can do it."

He yelled, "Are you even listening to me? I feel like I'm talking to a tree, but that's insulting the tree! You're so—"

"LI, SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE!"

They gaped at the screen.

"Was...was that...Sakura?" Usagi asked wonderingly.

"I don't know what your problem is, but don't take it out on me! Just because my magic is telling me what to do and yours isn't is no excuse to treat me like a friggin dirt clod!"

Makoto couldn't hold it in any more. Howls of laughter filled the room as the rest of the Senshi stared at her, then joined in.

"_J-j-jeez,_ Makoto," Rei gasped. "What did you say to her?"

"I-I'm not sure," she choked out between gulps of breath. "I had no idea that my...uh...words of wisdom were that effective!"

"No kidding," Haruka said wryly. "They sure worked."

"Now what is she doing?" Minako asked.

"I don't know," Yelan said blandly. An amused smile flickered around her lips and she seemed rather pleased by Sakura's reaction, but her attention was directed at the screen as lightning flickered across it.

"—the whole forest's dry enough to go up in flames! We've got to warn the mansion!" Li's ugly expression had vanished, and he seemed normal again.

"He's right," Michiru muttered, sobering. 

"Where's the highest point nearby? I've got an idea!"

"I don't know! Can't you use your magic? And what—"

"Shut up! I need to concentrate!"

Everybody cracked up at that. We watched as she added something, then ran away, the bird zipping after her.

"If things get out of hand, I can step in," Makoto said.

"I think she's got this handled." Usagi grinned. Screen-Sakura clambered to the top of the ridge and stood up. The air glowed dark green streaked with lighter highlights, and a moment later several lightning bolts struck her.

"What's she _doing?_" Hotaru asked, horrified.

Makoto studied the picture, then smiled. "She's pulling in all of the energy in the storm to take it down. All that'll be left is a bunch of clouds, and they'll blow off to somewhere else. I didn't teach it to her, though; she figured it out on her own."

"Impressive," Setsuna commented.

"Well, the downside is that there's more energy than she thinks in the storm." Makoto stifled a laugh. "She made a couple of crystals beforehand, but I doubt they'll hold it all." A moment later, Sakura's hair shot down another foot. "She has to pull it into herself," she explained, "and I don't think she knew it affects her hair."

"Well, I think I've seen enough," Yelan said, standing up as screen-Sakura finished with the storm. "They'll be back soon." She left, but the senshi stayed there with Usagi, Rei, Chibiusa, and Minako glued to the television.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You're hot." Li's voice came from the speaker.

"What?!"

__

"WHAT?!" Makoto echoed, eyes nearly bulging from their sockets as she sat bolt upright.

"From the extra energy," he said casually.

"That's what I hoped," Makoto growled.

"Aw, is someone being a wee bit protective?" Michiru teased.

Haruka smirked. "I don't blame her. That kid's been a creep for a while now, and he's just lucky we don't base our opinions on first impressions."

"True," Setsuna said. "But...I'm not sure if it was his fault. I think something may have been affecting him, but I can't really tell..."

"Really?" Makoto almost seemed disappointed. "Then I don't have a good reason to dislike him. This sucks."

"What a shame," Hotaru joked. "Don't you agree, Chibiusa? Chibiusa?" Her friend took no notice of her. Chibiusa's face was still pressed against the glass as she happily watched Li, oblivious to the fact that prior to the confrontation between him and Sakura, he had been generally considered an asshole. _He is sooooooooo cute!!!!_ She thought enviously. _Wish I could spend a day getting lost with him too_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All right people, that long and incredibly boring chapter is out of the way. For those of you who actually read my reviews, yes Hobbes does know me. We're both counselors at a day camp, and if any of you have ever been to camp Wil-lo-linn, this is actually Sora the crazy P.A. writing this. Or maybe you know me as Chinchilla, even though I HATE THAT NAME! If you don't have the faintest clue what I'm talking about, (Chances are that you don't...not that many people live in Oregon, just insane ones like me) just ignore me and my ravings. Thanks again for all the great reviews! Look on the bright side—now that the basics are down, I've got the next three chapters to have lots and lots of fun! No plot suggestions please, I've got it ALL handwritten in my magic notebook so no matter what THE STORY AIN'T CHANGING! It might take about a week or more for me to update again, I'm really sorry, but until then you can survive by reading my only other story up. It's pure S+S fluff and actually now complete! Adiosity, peace, and luv! AND NO STEALING ADIOSITY, IT'S MY WORD! THE ONLY THING I OWN IN THE WHOLE FIC! SO FIND YOUR OWN!


	4. DarkLord of the Dance

Shin no Chikara

Chapter Four: DarkLord of the Dance

I am soooooooooooo sorry everyone! I was really mad that I couldn't update this sooner, but until a little while ago I was stuck without a computer to type on...it's a long story and if you want to know all the details just send me an e-mail. Anyways, yet again I am terribly, terribly sorry. Moving on! This is actually a fairly short chapter and it's also fairly traumatic, although not as traumatic as the first two, now that I think of it. I actually have illustrations for this, but I don't know how to put them up along with the story so I'm now very depressed! Does anyone get the pun in the title? Dark LORD OF THE DANCE? No? ::sigh:: I'm a failure....Did you enjoy my last two short stories? They're so different, too...one's funny and romantic, the other's so...not. AND IT'S ALL FROM LI'S POV! HOW SCREWED UP IS THAT? ^_^' That's what happens when I get PMS, I guess... it shows in another story I might put up soon. A big fat MWAH out to all my reviewers! You guys are the best! I had no idea I was going to get such a great response from you all! I love you all** in a brother-sister or sister-sister way! **Nothing different cuz otherwise SOMEONE will slap me with a lawsuit, it always happens! So how many people actually have used the phrase "Shut your Piehole"? I'm not sure if I'm being too harsh to Li right now....but aw, it's fun! 

Oh! Dude! I forgot the disclaimer! ::grins Satanically:: this is a little something I came up with when I was extremely, extremely bored. 

::pops CD into stereo and background music for Britney Spears's "Stronger" starts playing, starts dancing as people cover their eyes and scream::

Nelvana just stop

There's nothing you can do or say

We've had enough

CardCaptors ain't your property as from today

You might think that you can air it

But you're wrong

Chorus:

The episodes aren't even played the right way

Stop trying to hide the fact that Li was gay

Cuz in the end he isn't anymore...

You dumb...ass

Stop trying

To turn it into an American Cartoon

I'm amazed you've all got jobs

Cuz it's a duh: your brains are on the moon

You might say that I'm mistaken

But you're wrong

Cuz

The episodes aren't even played the right way!

Stop trying to hide the fact that Li was gay

cuz in the end he isn't anymore....

AAAAAHHHH! Put the gun down! I'll get off the stage!

.....

No, I don't own anything in this fic except for the characters I made up: The Darklords, and anyone who's not mentioned in CCS or SM.

Reminder: ~~~~ are either POV switches or time gaps!!!!! 

Are you ready? Then let er rip!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Third Person/ weird thing that sounded cool as an intro 

The boy stands in his room, practicing punches on a dummy. Despite the fact that it's late Autumn, a slight sweat has broken on his face, indicating he's been practicing for a while. His punches are swift, hard, and accurate. He knows exactly what he's doing. 

But he doesn't need to. 

Unruly dark chestnut hair flops over eyes of a startling shade: lighter than the standard brown, barely darker than the usual amber. Those eyes hide a lot of things----emotions, thoughts, secrets. He looks fairly innocent and not too dangerous for a fourteen-year-old. That isn't true; not even close. 

The boy with the wide brown eyes and hair that makes girls go crazy is one of the world's strongest sorcerers. He could level the house he stands in without much effort. And he knows it. 

But he isn't going to any time soon.

In the same house lives a girl She has hair that is woven into a loose braid, strands fighting to escape. Her eyes are big and an intense, vivid green, but narrowed in concentration as she studies the chart before her. She isn't too tall for a thirteen-year-old; she isn't too thin. Her appearance all but screams average. She doesn't look like someone who could travel for two weeks in a foreign world with only magic cards and an enchanted ball of glass to help her. She doesn't look like someone who could bring the dead back to life. And least of all, she doesn't look like someone who could kill.

But she could.

And she has.

She stands now, moving awkwardly from sitting so long, and moves down the hall, stopping at the boy's rooms. He looks up, sensing her presence, and turns; they are partners and friends. They have been for almost four years. "What's up?"

"I was getting kind of stiff from the cold. Do you want to practice?"

There is no question of what she means by practice. He nods, and in a moment they are watching each other, waiting for a first move. Suddenly, the girl feints to the right and strikes. He blocks it, and the fight is on.

They move like dancers, each knowing almost exactly what the other will do and when because they know the other so well. She hasn't regained all of her formidable skill from her previous life, but she is steadily getting better. As a princess of Jupiter before her first death, she _had_ to know how to fight–without magic.

He counters a low kick from her, and she flips away, graceful as an acrobat. Every move is timed to a pinpoint of a second. Her braid whips around her as she whirls, prepared for an attack Unlike the movies, there are no shouts or war-cries, no Yah!'s or they are a waste of the breath now vital to each. Neither is winning, but neither is losing. The fight goes on, and on, and on, gathering a small crowd to watch the Japanese girl who could fight like a ninja after six months and a few new memories. 

She seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. But that could be from the fact that she is a student of the Senshi.

The bell rings, signaling a half hour before supper, and they stop. For them, the world had narrowed to block and attack...and the other. The boy offers a towel to the girl and she takes it gratefully, mopping her face dry of the dewy perspiration that had glued her bangs to her forehead. "Thanks. I'm going to wash up. See you at dinner." She walks out with hardly a trace of exhaustion as the crowd hurriedly moves on to something else, unwilling to risk her rage. Or just her irritation, for that matter.

The two adolescents who just sparred in the house in Hong Kong are the two strongest living sorcerers known. 

Or at least, the strongest ones fighting for good. 

But there is a price for power. One will pay it in blood. The other will pay it in loss. For when they come head to head with their greatest foe yet, one of them will die.

And the final battle will start in this chapter. For this is the tale of a Warrior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

The months passed even more quickly as I trained alongside Sakura, learning different ways to combine our attacks or defenses. In October, we went back to Hong Kong and unsurprisingly my sisters went ballistic over Sakura...and the senshi. They dragged them into their rooms and from what I gathered from the squeals played dress-up with Sakura, Chibiusa, and Hotaru. All I knew was that about halfway through the night Haruka, Setsuna, and Michiru let themselves out with a semi-sickened look on their face, while Michiru was saying, "Poor, poor Sakura."

We used the Clow Cards occasionally, but they seemed almost weak in comparison to what we were capable of now. Sakura could create and destroy a ten-by-fifteen foot wall with a glare and a minute, and I could hold off a thirty-foot waterspout for quite some time. And that wasn't even that hard. At first, training was hard, but it got easier. Sort of. If your definition of easier included being able to walk out of the room at the end of the day, versus _not_ being able to.

One of the more interesting times was when I needed to borrow a book from Sakura on one of the days she was training one-on-one with a senshi. When I knocked and she called, "Come in," I got a surprise. That day she was being taught by Usagi and Chibiusa and I walked in to find three girls with buns and pigtails practicing how to kill a demon while another one sat in a chair and watched in fascination.

I blinked, wondering if I was seeing quadruple or somehow they'd figured out how to clone themselves. [AN: or maybe he was taking something he shouldn't have been...] Then I realized that it was just the effect of having Mei Lin, Chibiusa, Usagi, and Sakura all in the same room while wearing their hair in the Meatball Head style. Of course, if I had ever said that name to Mei Lin–or any of them, for that matter–I would have experienced sudden, intense pain from her heel grinding into my face, but the effect was still nonetheless dizzying. "Umm...I...uh..I need to borrow a book..."

"Which one?" Sakura asked as she went into the bedroom.

" A History of Element Magic'," I called, unwilling to leave the doorway out of irrational fear I'd suddenly grow the "unique" hairstyle myself. You never knew what people put in guard spells, and Sakura had a particularly creative streak. When the inner Senshi had tried to play a prank on her they ended up with cat eyes and orange hair until she'd figured out how to undo the spell. It had supposedly taken her a week, but I knew better. The guard spells of the mansion were easy to undo, but I didn't think it was a matter of difficulty.

"Oh, okay." She emerged a minute later, a few cobwebs floating around her face. " I _really_ need to dust that bookcase," she said ruefully, handing the book to me.

"I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this is bordering insane," I said with a pointed glance around the room. "I thought I was seeing quadruple."

"Been hitting the magic mushrooms again?" she teased. "I've gotta admit, it makes thing interesting for our visitors."

"I noticed," I muttered. "Thanks, I'll get it back soon."

"No problem, and don't worry about it." She closed the door behind me as I left, still a bit dazed. 

Fortunately, I got used to the sight of multiple similar hairstyles fast because Sakura decided she liked that style. When I asked her why, she said it was because she wore it often in her past life–she had had to; it was the official style for a princess even though she originally loathed it.

As the months wore on, I found myself getting even closer to Sakura. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why she'd been selected as the only person in the world to have the power she did, but she seemed to handle it fairly well. If she had been upset by being shoved into a lifestyle where she was a legend, she hid it well behind a smile that never failed to make my knees go weak. Whenever I tried to fall asleep, all I could think of was her eyes, glittering at me. Of course, I wasn't about to admit it. It never crossed my mind that she might like me back; and I swore to myself that no matter what, as long as I was alive, I'd do whatever I could to keep her from pain and suffering, even if that meant standing by her side at an altar when I wasn't the groom. No matter what, I would shield her the best I could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I watched Li leave the room, book in hand. He had looked a little dizzy from seeing four girls with the same hairstyle at once, but other than that he seemed fine. I'd officially joined the Meatball Head club, as we privately called it. Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't wear any other hairstyles–in fact, I wore my hair in a braid most of the time, like when I had sparred with him.

I sighed softly, remembering that afternoon. There was a kind of beauty in fighting hand-to-hand with him. For a little while, all there had been was Li and I. We were in the world made only for us–a silent world where nothing existed other than us; and it was like dancing a fierce, satin-smooth dance with only the two of us, each matching the other's step with one of their own, the silent music's rhythm formed from the beating of our hearts. And mine had been going a mile a minute, though not from the exercise. Li's eyes had a way of catching mine and holding them that made me breathless, and just because we were fighting didn't mean that they had stopped. 

"Sakura?" Usagi called. "We need to get back to the lesson...unless you want to stop for a snack!"

Startled and flushing, I whirled around. "Uh, sure. Whatever you guys want." I laughed nervously.

Mei Lin grinned. "Oh, get over him, you wuss. You never showed fear before, and this isn't that much different."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I stammered, reddening.

"Neither do I," Usagi said, leaning forward with a predator's grin stretched across her face. "Spill!"

"Oh, don't pretend you forgot all about our meaningful little chat the first night you were here, Sakura." Mei Lin smiled wickedly at me. She smirked, adding, "She's got a crush on Li."

"MEI LIN!!!"

Chibiusa wasn't participating in the conversation; instead she was giving me a measuring look. When she saw me staring, she blushed and looked away as I wondered, *What was that all about?*

"You do?!?!?!" Usagi squealed. "Kaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaii!!!!"

"Don't tell him!" I said fiercely. "Don't tell _anyone!_"

"Not even Li?" Mei Lin asked slyly. 

I lunged at her, ready to grab her by the neck and squeeze *hard.* Usagi seized the back of my shirt as I scrabbled on the stone floor, trying to give myself some leverage and failing miserably. Finally, I gave up and straightened, growling, "Don't make me mad. I've still got those storm crystals, you know."

December passed, then January, February, and March. Towards the end of March I noticed more activity than usual in the mansion, but paid little notice and studied harder.

The morning of the 25th brought a surprise. Actually, it was in the middle of breakfast that Yelan broke the news to us.

"Sakura, your birthday is a week away, is it not?"

I looked up and swallowed the mouthful I had. She was right. "Yes it is."

She smiled. "I was fairly certain of that. We needed an opportunity to get Li and your names fairly well-known, so people will not bother you or try to, and this will work beautifully. We will be hosting a ball in your honor one week from today."

I nearly choked. "A _ball?!_ For _me?"_

"Yes. We'll introduce you two quite nicely that way and avoid the possibility of looking as though we are showing you off. Which," she added with a sly smile, "we are."

I felt faint. The Clan was wealthy, and any ball they held was guaranteed to be lavish. 

The rest of the week was chaotic. There were servants and messengers running all over the mansion and cutting through courtyards, which made safe training impossible. Instead, the Senshi gave us the week off and we hung out. It was like being in a seven-day-long party, but all you could do was walk around and not touch anything. Everywhere I went, there were decorations being shoved down stairs or hauled down corridors and all moving towards an enormous room at the center of the mansion.

One of the most fun afternoons was when Makoto and Minako kidnapped me and dragged me back to their rooms, then proceeded to play with my hair for the rest of the time until dinner. By then, it was waist-long and slightly wavy, and I swear they did every style possible in that afternoon. After that, though, I was glad I was going to choose what I got to wear to the ball. I wasn't sure what Minako would choose if she could, but it was sure to have too many ruffles, laces, frills, and bows for my taste. They might look good on her, but most certainly not on me.

I waited out the time before the ball with a stomach that felt like it would display its contents on the floor at any moment. It officially started at 6:00, but the guests always arrived early and so it would unofficially begin at 5:45. Yelan had instructed me to be there at precisely 6:00; it wouldn't look that good if the supposedly all-powerful sorceress was late. I couldn't keep myself from thinking about how I would possibly survive the dance–Mei Lin had warned me to wear iron shoes, because anyone who studied magic often had little time to study anything else, and that included dancing. As soon as I pried myself out of the clutches of Fan Ren and her sisters, I ran to my room and hid in the bathroom, then took a long, long bubble bath. I needed it.

After that, I dried off and got into a nice blouse and pants, then parted my hair into two even sections, then braided it into a pair of tight braids. It was practical and neat, and that was the image I wanted to cut. Considering myself prepped for the dance, I relaxed for a while, thinking about things. Things such as Li, magic, the DarkLords, Li, my confusing previous life, Li, what I would do when the DarkLords challenged me, Li, and Li. [AN: She's even more obsessed with him than I am with torturing him! AND THAT SHOULDN'T EVEN BE POSSIBLE!]

It was about 5:15 when there was a knock on the door. Opening it, I found Yelan standing there in her dress robes, Mei Lin at her side.

"Oh no," Mei Lin exclaimed. "You can't go looking like _that!_"

"What?" I asked with confusion.

"You need to fix your hair, and put on a dress at least," she sighed. "This is _your_ party, and as a sorceress, you need to cut an impressive figure."

"I agree." Yelan smiled gently and added, "I'd trust her, dear. She's quite the expert at this kind of thing."

"All right," I said nervously. "Just don't make me look like a porcelain doll or anything."

Mei Lin darted away and came back a moment later carrying a multi-colored pile of bright fabric. Tossing a red-orange dress to me, she said, "Go put this on."

I meekly went into my bedroom and pulled it over my head, not daring to look in the mirror as I immediately went back out.

"No, the coloring doesn't work," she said thoughtfully, and Yelan nodded in agreement as she tossed another one to me, this time of a royal blue hue. I went and put it on, then showed it to them. Mei Lin shook her head and threw a yellow one to me that also didn't measure up to her expectations. I was promptly presented with a dress of evergreen silk, embroidered daintily with darker green and golden threads that formed gracefully twisting dragons. I put it on with extra care, enjoying how the skirt flared slightly and went almost to the floor.

"Ohhhhhh...." Mei Lin said softly when I walked out. "It's perfect." She picked up a brush and steered me over to a stool. I sat, still as a stone, and she started combing my waist-length hair. Comments flew back and forth between Yelan and her.

"Ribbons?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure."

"Green and gold, possibly?"

"But we don't want to overdo this."

"Absolutely."

"Something simple would be best, I think."

"Like this?"

"Yes. Use these to hold it in place."

Something poked me in the back of the head and Mei Lin said, "Almost done..." There was a pause, and she said with satisfaction, "There. You can look now."

I stood up and went to a mirror. Staring back at me in my reflection was a wide-eyed, pale-faced _lady._ I hadn't really studied my reflection for a long time–it wasn't that important. As a direct result, seeing myself as a fourteen-year-old was a shock. She handed me a small mirror and I turned to see my hair twisted into a bun high on the back of my head and secured by a pair of gold-trimmed ebony stilettos.

__

"This is what you wear to your own party," Mei Lin said smugly, and I turned and gave her a hug. "_Thank_ you, Mei Lin."

"Careful, you'll wrinkle that nice dress," she teased. "We've got to make sure everything's perfect, so just hang out for half an hour and for god's sake don't mess yourself up."

They left, and I grabbed a book, trying to keep my mind off of the ball, and more importantly, off of Li.

Sitting primly and uncomfortably in a chair, I tried to read until the clock chimed six, then shot out the door and stopped only to go back for shoes. I dashed down the strangely empty halls, finally arriving at the huge double doors and feeling the pangs of extreme nervousness play badminton with my stomach as the birdie. I gingerly pushed one open and slipped inside.

I had accidentally walked onto the second story of the ballroom. It was more of a balcony that ringed the walls than a story in itself. There was one giant staircase leading down to the main floor, where there were an astonishing number of people dancing. It was the only way down, so I walked around the balcony and started descending. Suddenly, my roguish mind realized I was all alone. The fear that I'd kept at bay for so long now leaped at me, tearing at my mind with shadowy claws. I knew nobody. I was an outsider, an outcast, a pariah. I would always be alone. I had no clue what I was doing. People would laugh at the little sorceress who couldn't dance. They would laugh, and leave me alone.

__

Stop it, I told my mind, yanking it away from the thoughts of fear. _Take a deep breath and concentrate on something else. **Anything **else._ Steeling myself, I looked around and continued. 

I _was_ alone, though, and in uncertain territory, having no clue about the protocol of dances. A notion struck me. _Wait a sec,_ I thought. _You were a **princess.** The **High** princess. You know all about balls._ Studying my memories, I recalled it was proper for someone to approach me, but only on the first floor. I unsteadily made it down to the bottom of the stairs, gazing around for any familiar face. 

Just as a lively song started, I heard a voice behind me.

"Care for a dance?"

Not daring to breathe, I slowly turned around to come face to face with a young man I'd never seen before. His orange eyes glinted as he smiled lazily and offered me his hand. I took it uneasily, and we swept onto the dance floor. Chills crept up my spine as I mechanically rotated—something about him was just not right.

The tense silence was broken as he said, "You're Sakura Avalon, the Card Mistress?"

"Y-yes," I replied, startled.

"Which magics do you have?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Um," I said, unprepared for the question. Yelan had told me I could tell who I could trust here and who I couldn't–and I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him. I said cautiously, "Just elemental and Clow. Not even innercore, just a lot."

"I see. I've heard that you've taken an interest in my young cousin, Li." His voice was carefully casual, but there was a steely undertone. 

I blushed. Had word gotten around so fast? Was I that obvious? "You...could say that."

"More than an interest," he said suddenly, his grip on my waist tightening. "Li is very important to our family. Very important." His gaze shifted to the wall and I followed it to an unwelcome sight. Li was standing and talking with Chibiusa, who was looking gorgeous in a red dress that matched her eyes and who had an iron hold on his arm. 

Worse, Li didn't seem to mind. 

Feeling the blood drain from my face, I tore my eyes away and automatically continued dancing as the young man added, "Too important to be involved with....commitments. He has a designated, more fitting partner' already, as you can see."

"What are you saying?" I whispered.

"Stay away from Li. He deserves better." The music ended, and he released me and bowed mockingly. "Enjoy your birthday, Lady Sakura." He backed away and faded into the shadows as a new song started, but I didn't see. The room was spinning, faster and faster. The laughter and music rang harshly in my ears I stumbled to the nearest secluded bench under a balcony and sat down with a lurch. I was vaguely aware of rapid footsteps and voices drawing nearer, but they faded and my vision went black. [AN: ain't that cute? You tell her Li deserves better than her and she faints! That oughta come in handy–next time she's yelling about something, just walk up to her and say "Li deserves better than you" and she'll shut up and just drop like a stone! I could use that on my brother!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Senshi/3rd Person

"Ooooh! Look at Sakura!" Minako squealed. "She's so pretty like that!"

"Not bad," Setsuna conceded. She and the other outer Senshi were very impressed with the little Jupiter princess, and her determination to learn to control her power so she could save lives.

"Look!" Rei leaned over the rail, pointing. "Someone's asked her to dance!"

"Who is it?"

"I don't know."

They watched in silence for the first few minutes. The two on the floor weren't talking much, but then he said something and the ice appeared to be broken. Sakura's partner looked towards the wall, and she did the same.

"Something's wrong," Minako said suddenly, tension pulling her face taut. "There's an emotion surge."

"What do you mean?"

"That young man–that isn't an ordinary conversation! _Look at her face! **Oh my god!**_" Minako reeled and grasped the handrail in a white-knuckled grip, clinging to it for dear life. The emotional anguish coming from Sakura was sharp and agonizing, and only one kind of person would know how to inflict that kind of pain. "That–isn't–any–ordinary guy! He's–he's–oh, my god–" She straightened and started running down the stairs as the boy vanished and Sakura left the floor, shaking violently.

"That was a DarkLord!" she yelled to her friends as they followed her. "I don't know what he said to her, but–look!"

They careened around the handrail, at the main floor at last, and raced to the bench where Sakura slumped, the shadows making her look even paler than before.

"Sakura!" Makoto grabbed her wrist and checked her pulse. It was slower than normal, but that wasn't unusual in an unconscious person. "Come on, Sakura. Wake up. Sakura, wake up. Come on, Sakura."

There was silence for a moment, then Sakura slowly opened her eyes, blinking in confusion. Then she gasped and paled further, trembling.

"Sakura, snap out of it." Minako seized her by the shoulders and shook her. "Listen to me. Whatever that–that–thing–said to you, it isn't true, isn't what you should do, or whatever. That was a _DarkLord,_ Sakura."

__

"What?!"

"That was a–"

"I know, I know. I was just startled." Sakura buried her head in her hands and said, "I can't believe I was so _stupid_ I believed him, I actually did. But _why–?"_

"Sakura, I need you to think. You don't have to tell us what he said to you, but you have to think. Why did he come here to do that? How would saying what he did hamper your abilities?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I thought for a moment on that Oddly, my mind wandered back to the first lesson Minako had taught me.

__

"Can you tell me how to use your enemies emotions as a weapon?" Minako asked, testing me.

I thought for a minute. "Umm....by causing anger and fighting among themselves?"

"Exactly. If the DarkLords argue and don't trust eachother, they won't be working together well at all."

My mind raced. The DarkLord had tried to sever my relationship with Li–Li, the first lesson. Somehow they had to fit.

"That's_ it!_" I said suddenly as they clicked. "The DarkLord tried to get me to stay away from Li so Li would be confused and angry at me, and when we'd fight the DarkLords we wouldn't even be speaking with each other!"

"That rat! That's an awful thing to do!" Rei said angrily. "You'd both be killed!"

"Well, duh," Usagi teased. "They've only killed every other sorcerer that thinks they're going to become the Warrior."

"I know, but that's _really_ rotten!"

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. So Li and Chibiusa weren't already hooked up.

A hand on my shoulder made me look up. "Go out and hook a couple of nice young men; trust me, it isn't hard." Setsuna smiled wryly.

I got up, saying, "Thanks, you guys." Within seconds, I was swept up by a new partner who proved to have a good sense of humor and wasn't a Satanic, evil fiend. Another claimed me right after, and another after that. Each one was nice enough but I was still cautious, telling them my first name only and when they asked, saying vaguely that I was a guest here while they stepped all over my feet. Finally, I got a moment to rest, and I sat down on a quiet bench nearby. With a sigh, I gazed around the ballroom. All my dance partners had been nice, but I only wanted to dance with Li. Sadly, as Yelan had said, I needed to cut a good figure for the visiting families, and the definition of good figure' unfortunately did not include dance pariah.' Gritting my teeth, I got back on my feet and stepped into the light, waiting for some new starry-eyed youngster to wipe his feet on my toes. Maybe letting Mei Lin dress me up had been a mistake, but I liked being treated like a beauty. Sort of. The old saying was true: beauty was pain–a big,_ fat_ pain. In the ass. A new song started.

"May I have this dance?" a male voice asked, I turned in resignation, anticipating another round of pin-your-foot-on-my-slipper-covered-toes, and forced my face into what I hoped was a charming smile.

It was Li.

__

OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! My mind screamed in pure shock. _Calm down, you ninny,_ my rational voice ordered. "S-sure," I stammered. There was a pleasant tingle in my arm when he took my hand and we whirled onto the dance floor. He was a surprisingly good dancer and didn't step on my toes once as we waltzed around the room. I didn't want to ruin the moment, but he did need to know about the DarkLord. I opened my mouth to speak and something collided with my back, sending me forward with a jolt. A strong arm around my waist steadied me, and I looked up to find Li's startled face very, very, _very_ close to mine. We froze, blushing.

A pink head forced its way between us; it was Chibiusa. She turned to me, red-faced, and screamed, "BACK OFF, BITCH! LI IS MINE!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AN: Tell me you don't think I'm evil right now. Go on, try. You can't? Didn't think so. It's true! I am evil! ^v--v^ (grin with fangs)]

****

Li

The minute Sakura had stepped inside the room, I knew because the level of magic shot up. I looked around for her, but she didn't come into sight until she reached the stairs. I caught my breath and openly stared, a blush staining my face.

The dress matched her eyes exactly, and she slowly walked down, a vision in emerald green. I'd never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life. I literally could not pull my eyes away from her.

She was pale and nervous as she descended the steps, and I frowned when she stopped, clutching the rail. _Oh no,_ I realized. _It's the fear of being alone, isn't it?_ She managed to keep going after a moment, and I heaved a relieved sigh.

"What is it?" 

I glanced down and realized that Chibiusa was clinging to my arm. "Uh...nothing," I said weakly. This was _not_ exactly what I wanted. I had to watch as some guy asked her to dance and gave him my death glare, the one that usually knocked birds out of the sky and dogs cowered from. Something wasn't right–I didn't trust him at all.

"Li, look at that!" Chibiusa tugged at my arm and I looked down at her, startled. She pointed to something or other and started chatting animatedly about it, while I nodded vaguely and went back to checking out Sakura. _She looks–she looks amazingI've never seen her like that._

Something was wrong. The boy was backing away and leaving her alone in the middle of the dance floor, looking like her heart was shattered. After a moment, she stumbled away and within seconds the Senshi flew down the stairs and vanished into the shadows after her. My heart ached to see her hurt like that, even if it was over someone else, and I wanted to go to her, but Chibiusa still had a death grip on my elbow, apparently oblivious to what had just happened. Sakura reappeared a few minutes later, a new, steely look in her eyes. The Senshi started walking away and Chibiusa not only released me but ran off to join them too. At the same time, Makoto split off and headed in my direction, clearly wanting to talk. Another guy asked Sakura to dance as I gritted my teeth impatiently, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Ami had stopped Makoto to whisper something in her ear. Makoto listened, wide-eyed, said something, and at Ami's response nodded and continued on her way towards me.

"Hello, Li," Makoto said cordially when she got to me. "Got a moment?"

"Sure," I said hopelessly. "What's up?"

"DarkLords on the dance floor and my little sis," she replied grimly.

__

"What?!" [AN: People sure seem to be saying what' a lot]

"I don't know if you saw–" she gave me an odd look "–but a little while ago, a young fellow took Sakura out for her first dance tonight, and in the process very deliberately tore her heart out."

"That son of a–" I bit off a curse, growling, "I knew it! Where is he? What did he say?"

"Slow down there, cowboy," Makoto said. "He's gone, first of all, and second, I wouldn't try to go kick his ass right now. Or at least, not without Sakura. He's a DarkLord."

I clenched my teeth in frustration. "Wonderful. Just fabulous. So what'd he say to her?"

Makoto looked away. "You'll have to ask her that. She wouldn't tell us, and I'm not sure. But it involved someone close to her, that much I know." She frowned, then smiled affectionately, most likely thinking of her little sister. "Now go with dance with her. Give her feet a break. Make her day. Go on, shoo!" I obediently walked away, but stopped as she called, "And Li?"

"Yeah?"

She wasn't smiling anymore. "Watch out for _anyone_ suspicious."

"Right." I nodded grimly and set off around the perimeter of the ballroom, looking for Sakura.

She stepped into the light ahead, looking like she was attempting to hide irritation. Reflecting on the dancing abilities of my cousins, my own feet ached in sympathy. After a ball last year, Mei Lin had written to tell me she hadn't been able to walk for the rest of the night and all of the next day. I decided to spare Sakura from that for a moment, at least. "May I have this dance?"

She put on a false smile as she turned to face me, but it turned into a startled but real one as she saw me and said, "S-sure."

We danced in comfortable silence. She had just opened her mouth to say something when she was knocked forward. I caught her, my arm going instinctively around her waist, and she looked up. Suddenly our faces were incredibly close. Heat rushed to my face, but I froze, captivated by her eyes, so bright and full of emotion.

A pink head thrust itself in between us. It was Chibiusa, her eyes livid with rage. She turned to Sakura and screamed, "BACK OFF, BITCH! LI IS MINE!" 

Sakura drew back, shocked, then stared harder at her and said, "It isn't her! It's the DarkLord!" She seized Chibiusa's hands in her own and glowed green-shot white, using the Moon aspect of her power to force away the spell.

Chibiusa gasped, her rage vanishing. "Sakura, I'm _so_ sorry! I-I-I don't know what came over me!"

"It's okay," she assured her, with a hug. "It was the DarkLord, not you."

Chibiusa smiled weakly. "You're too nice, Sakura." She left as I stared after her retreating back. That DarkLord was getting very, very annoying.

"Well, as you might have gathered, there's a DarkLord here," Sakura said with a sigh.

"Yeah, Makoto told me." I offered her a hand and we continued dancing, as though she had not just been called an obscene name by a normally mild-mannered girl. [AN: okay, maybe not _that_ mild-mannered, but still...] I steeled myself. This was the moment. I knew I had to tell her. "Sakura, I've got something to tell you."

"What?" She blushed faintly.

"I–" I stopped as there was a snapping noise. Looking up, I saw hairline cracks race along the ceiling. _What the **hell** is going on?!_

Then it was torn off. [AN: Damn! Damn! He was about to tell her he liked her! _ GAAAAAHHHH! Ohthis is really _my_ story, isn't it? I control what happenswell, anyway]

A wind ripped through the ballroom, carrying the guest's screams as they dodged chunks of falling rubble. I stared at the ceiling in horror as a terrible, cackling shriek of a laugh wrenched through the air. I instinctively pulled Sakura closer to me, knowing that no matter what, I'd die before I let her get hurt. Suddenly my feet were lifted off the floor and with a jolt we started moving upward. I released her but neither of us fell, so instead we joined hands. I tried to propel us downward with wind and she did what she could, but nothing worked. A flying piece of debris almost hit my head, but I ducked.

Sakura stretched out her free hand and gold-brown power streamed out from it, forming an immense shield that spread to cover the entire room. The wind died down, but we continued the inexorable journey upward. Soon, we cleared the roof, a piece of the shield breaking off and wrapping around us.

My hand ached from Sakura's grip, but I didn't dare let go. We were fifty feet over the roof when we were pulled into a dull gray vortex and dropped roughly into a pitch black room, the shield still around us. I sat up painfully and helped Sakura up, asking, "Do you know where we are?"

She started shaking, and her face paled several shades. "No," she said in a quivering voice, "I don't. But it's not good, really not good."

"You are correct, little girl," purred a low, cruel voice. "The Chapel of Death [AN: Da da da!] never is a good place to be. If you aren't one of us. And you aren't." Dim light illuminated twelve shapes surrounding us. Eleven were little more than dark, shapeless hulks with burning orange eyes. The twelfth was seated on a throne and very feminine. A ball of flame erupted over her and we could see her face clearly. Her face was thin and narrow, lined with age and hate; her eyes were fierce red-orange and her hair longer than I thought possible. [AN: We're talking Mistress 9 long, people!] It was gray, streaked with a muddy brown-red color that looked unpleasantly like dried blood. She smiled, baring teeth filed to a point. "No one lives here long if we do not welcome them. And you aren't welcome."

She was Lady Hei Long.

The faces of the DarkLords were cast into light by the fire, and I saw the one who'd tried to hurt Sakura. _"You!"_ I snarled, and ran at him as he smirked.

Hei Long's eyes flashed and Sakura's shield crackled with dark power, wrenched from her control. I slammed into it, and all I could see was white lightning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

__

"No!" I shrieked as the shield electrocuted him. His clothes smoked and miniature lightning bolts played through his hair as he dropped. I caught him gently, tears in my eyes, and asked, "Are you all right?"

He coughed for a moment, then said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Hei Long smiled cruelly. "Yes, Reikoku there is the DarkLord of emotions....he made an appearance at that dance. I find him quite useful. He also is responsible for your jealousy toward the Senshi at first, little wolf. He really is a genius at trashing relationships, and it's such a shame that wench snapped you out of it."

The shield, now controlled by Hei Long, sparked lightning and shrank closer to us. Li was still pretty drained after being shocked. The shield was too powerful to blast away from us–I'd waste precious energy. The perfect solution came to mind; I had almost had a knack with this trick. Taking I deep breath, I snapped all of the energy out of the shield and threw it into Li. The visible signs of the shield fell and shattered around us like glass, then faded after a second. I stood and helped Li to his feet, then turned to face Hei Long, speaking three slow, venomous words. "Bring. It. On." [AN: You think that's disrespectful, wait until later!]

That was the signal. Simultaneously, we threw lightning at several DarkLords. Ironically, we both aimed for the one who had infiltrated the ball. All of the others deflected it, but the double attack left _him_ roasty-toasty and extra crispy but sadly still alive.

"Pathetic," hissed Hei Long, to which I replied by sending a bolt of Saturn destruction power at her, grateful I was mad enough to use it. The dark blue power ate up her shield, and she fended most of it off, but a bit got past her to wipe out her throne and shear off her hair so that it was only ankle length.

She was left to fall on her rump. "My hair!" she howled. "Look what you've done to my lovely hair!"

"You call that lovely?" I taunted, trying to give an air of confidence. "You're the pathetic one. You call yourself all-powerful, but really, if you were, why do you age so badly? Honestly, it's called a face lift. Find a good plastic surgeon and get one." Li snorted with laughter, but Hei Long wasn't smiling.

"For one so small, where do you keep an ego so large?" she retorted, trying to regain composure.

"Bend over and I'll show you," I snarled. [AN: Oooohhhh, ouch!] 

That caught her attention, and she snapped, "Enough games."

"Oh, but they're so much fun!" Li said sarcastically, chucking a large boulder at a DarkLord and turning the ground to quicksand under another. I was busy confusing them and their emotions, using several illusions.

"I said _enough!_" Howling, black power flattened us, and we could get up, it formed two separate bubbles around us. "You may wait in the dungeon until we decide to kill you!" The orbs rose and went in two separate directions, carrying me away from Li's bubble. "No!" I screamed, throwing myself at the wall of the bubble, but it was all too solid. He was shouting and pounding on his too, but I couldn't hear anything. They were soundproof. 

Then everything faded into darkness as the terrible laughter of the DarkLords echoed in my ears.

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Ooooohhhh! A cliffhanger! Yet again, I apologize for this taking so long to update, but I literally busted my ass typing this chapter. Maybe there is some hope for me after all...I might not be completely evil....I virtually typed this in about seven and a half hours. I started around 4:30 in the afternoon, stopped for a half hour dinner, then HAD to stop at 12 when my dad pried me away from the comp. I then woke up at 6:34 in the morning and got back on. Insanity? Yes! Why did it take that long? For one thing, a lot of this was material not in the handwritten copy. The "Meatball Heads" scene wasn't in there, along with Sakura's fall and Li catching her and Chibiusa's "interruption." Neither was the fight practice scene, which I'm insanely proud of cuz it sounds like something out of a weird movie. That reminds me, this chapter is dedicated to all my reviewers, good or bad, because you actually took the time to type something out and tell me what you thought. The next chapter will be up soon, so Adiosity until then!


	5. Warrior's Rise

Shin no Chikara

Chapter Five: Warrior's Rise

Well, I don't have much to say this time....isn't that weird? I suppose I'm just worn out....X_X It's 7:34 in the morning. I just spent most of last night working on the last chapter. My dad had to literally pry my hands off of the keyboard. I stayed up until midnight. I would have been up later, but he made me go to sleep. As you can see, I'm not my usual, insane, Li-torturing self right now. I think I need coffee. Maybe not. That wouldn't be too good. Hey, it just hit me. Today's the thirteenth. Friday the thirteenth. Friday, July thirteenth. It's Li's birthday today! Isn't that ironic? I'm writing about something that happens on Sakura's birthday and it's Li's birthday! Boy, this really sucks as a birthday present...but it'll have to work! Just thought I'd say it again: I love all of my reviewers! You guys are the absolute best! This chapter is a big one, but I'm not talking about size. A lot of things happen in this one, and at this point I'd like to dedicate it to some of the people who have been so supportive to me: 

~*~Cutie Blossom~*~ This girl is so nice! Even though I'm fourteen and she's a sophomore, we've got a ton in common! When I was down from my classmates being mean to me (and you'd better believe they are), she'd perk me up. This goes out to you, chica!

Dreamer9300: You're the best fifth grade writer I've ever seen. We may live on opposite sides of the country, but that doesn't mean we can't chat!

Destiny's Creation: I swear to everybody who's reading this, this girl is amazing! I forget how many states and countries she lived in, but she used to know Chinese and is re-learning how to read and write it! That is SO COOL! 

Hobbes: To my tiger friend: we may be insane, but that's what makes camp so fun! I'll be joining your school this year, don't you forget it. Warn the teachers, if you haven't already. Say hi to Calvin for me! (That's her little sister, for all you people who are like o_0)

Disclaimer: ::tackles bum on street:: Money! Money! I need some! For god's sake, give me some money! Or something! Anything! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!"

::bum stands up:: "Geez, at least I've got a nice cardboard box. Want me to take you to the dump? They've got some good places to stay, and the view is okay."

::nods meekly:: "I don't own anything at all... not even what's in this fic..."

::bum laughs:: "Oh, now that's pathetic."

I don't own anything in this. Don't sue me; you won't get anything. ATC and whatever company owns the song "So Magical," not me. And you know what? If you've got any problems you have with this story and you want to sue me, go stick it up your ass. I'm not in the mood. Reviewers can say anything they want, but if you aren't going to say anything and just send me a virus or some other dumb thing you want to do, then do me a favor. Don't make my life miserable for doing what I love best.

You know the drill, people. ~~~~= time gap or POV switch. And lyrics will be in italics.

Warning: insane writing ahead. Very little humor; plenty of other things. Much darker than the other chapters, except maybe the second one. Enjoy.

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Sakura

I woke up in a cell that reeked of rotting flesh and mold. There was no way of telling how much time had passed since I had lost consciousness, but I could feel a sleep spell fall away as I moved my cramping legs. A dim trickle of light illuminated a small patch of ground nearby, and I found a chink in the wall near my head. I got up to look through it. 

The view was tiny, but I could see the sun setting over strange, jagged mountains. Unwillingly, I turned my gaze back to the cell. I'd slept at least twenty-two hours. 

There was a pile of bones in the corner, but it was far too high for a single person. I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and looked around, seeing I was all by myself in the cell.

I was alone.

In the dungeons. 

With a pile of the bones of multiple people. Multiple _dead_ people.

Dead people. That meant ghosts.

My two biggest fears—isolation and ghosts—and I had to stay with them in this dark, cold cell. With no chance of escape.

I tucked myself into a corner, as far away from the bones as I could get, the familiar terror starting to sink into my mind. I was alone. All alone. Alone with ghosts. 

My mind vaguely remembered what yesterday had been. My birthday. "Happy birthday to me," I sang softly. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized I was acting and going insane, but I didn't care. After all, I wasn't going to get out of this cell until I was dead, so why stay sane anyway? "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Sakura, happy birthday to me." I started twitching at every noise, real or not. The ghosts were whirling around me, shrieking with glee. They were only in my mind and caused by the magic in the cell, but I didn't know that. All I knew was that there were ghosts all around me, wanting to make me one of them, wanting me to join them in waiting until they'd be free. They came closer and closer as I curled away from them, shivering in terror. I was going to die. Everybody was going to die, death at the hands of Hei Long. I would die. Li would die. If he wasn't dead already.

Li.

No.

I wouldn't let him die. Couldn't let him die. I sat straight up, pushing my fears away. Li's life was more important than my child-like fears.

My head cleared, and I started thinking rationally again. Somehow I had to find him. We were a team; we'd fight as a team. My Mercury aspect could find him, but it'd cost me precious strength without water to channel it.

Just then, a bowl of water was pushed into the tiny cell through a slot in the door, followed by some rock-hard bread. _How stupid can these people get, really?_ I wondered, gratified that even in a situation like this, I could still joke. Pulling the bowl over to me, I used the basic spell, which was the fastest and most simple. "Guardian Mercury, show me where Li and I are," I whispered. Obediently, the water turned icy blue and I saw a map of the dungeons in 3-d, with me a glowing green dot and Li a glowing white one. He was a ways off—nine cells down—but the hall ran from my dungeon to his. I could take it and go straight to him....as long as I could handle the guard. Looking out the small window, I saw I couldn't. He was a big, trollish monster who would take up too much of my vital strength, so instead I set my sights on the wall. I could knock it down with ease if I got mad enough to use my Saturn power, but otherwise I'd need something else. The Saturn magic was my best bet, so I set an illusion of me shivering in the corner over the window, muffled the walls with a sound-blocking spell, put one hand on the wall, and tried to think of things that would infuriate me. How I never would be normal...no, painful enough but not maddening....the DarkLord deliberately trying to demolish any relationship between Li and I so we'd be killed right away...no, I hated the idea, but it was more creepy than infuriating....what might be happening to Li right now—

My hand burned navy blue, blasting a hole in the wall with a roar of dark power. Before I could even touch the next one, it crumbled away, as did the next seven. I walked calmly through the gaping holes, came to the eighth, and gave it a flick with my finger. It fell, and there, standing on the other side, was Li.

My outstretched arm fell limply to my side and to my surprise, I felt tears well up in my eyes. Until now, I hadn't really believed the DarkLords would catch us, that they would really fight us. I hadn't really thought that they would try to kill us for no reason. Now it was an all-too-harsh reality, and I was scared. Really, really scared. Not for me, but for Li. He wasn't the mythical Warrior; I was. Or at least, I would be. But he was still dragged into this. And he might have been killed A tear trickled down my cheek, then another, and another, and suddenly I couldn't stop crying. 

A pair of strong arms wrapped around me and held me tightly. "It's all right, we're both alive and that's what matters," a soothing voice murmured to me.

"Oh, _god,_ Li," I sobbed into his shoulder. "I didn't know if you were alive or dead or being tortured or I don't know what, and I'd never see you again, and I'd never be able to say I loved you—" I stopped, appalled that I had let it slip. Oddly, an enormous weight seemed to lift from my shoulders.

Li's arms tensed around me. "What did you just say?"

Maybe—if the higher powers had any mercy—he hadn't heard me clearly. I swallowed hard and said, "I'd never...see you again." 

"No, after that."

Staring at the ground, I whispered, "I'd never be able to say I loved you." When silence met my words, I added softly, "You're like a part of me. Losing you would be like losing my heartand I wanted you to know."

"Sakura," Li said from somewhere above me, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared," I admitted. Greatly daring, I lifted my face and looked into his eyes, where I saw more emotions than I could name.

__

Feel my love

Feel my soul

It's so magical

Take my hand

make me whole

It's so magical....

We locked eyes for a moment; then he roughly pulled me closer and our lips met in a long, sweet kiss. 

__

"You need love to unlock your power..."

Fire raced through my veins, and when we finally broke apart, we had changed. Li's hair was now silvery-white, his skin a glowing white brighter than snow and his eyes a clear, shining silver.

The fire in my blood burned and boiled, hot as the sun. Looking at my skin, I saw that it had changed to a burning bright gold-white. My now white-yellow hair fell over eyes Li told me later had changed to a darker but still fire-hot burnished gold.

__

I can't get you off my mind

What we have is hard to find

I feel this pain inside

but I know

your love

your love it can set me free

make me see

It's so magical, you and me

we are one

the moon and sun

It's so magical, you'll see

It all came together in a flash. No one had ever been able to tell if there were one or two Warriors, because there weren't. We were one and two at the same time—both the Warrior, but of different things. 

Li was the Element Warrior, Earth's guardian. His power was that of the Earth and the strength of the six elements that governed the universe.

I was the Celestial Warrior, fighter for the sky. The planets and stars and galaxies were the source of my powers. It all came together in us. We were earth and sky, always together but always each our own being. People had called me the Warrior before now, but that wasn't even close to true. Before now, my power had been large. Now it was a hundred thousand times more so, and Li was just as strong. We were truly the Warriors now.

[AN: who's ready for some Hei Long bashing? Good!]

The walls melted away and we reappeared in the Chapel, hand in hand. There was a stunned silence, and then Hei Long shrieked, _"What are they doing in here?"_

"Well, that's a stupid question," I said scornfully, sarcastically adding, "We really just came up here to say hi and have a pleasant chat. Got any tea? I'm parched."

"Get them!" she howled. The other DarkLords simultaneously threw attacks at us, but their spells just flopped. 

I mock-pouted. "And I was counting on that tea." Ducking a lance of shadow, I smiled grimly and said, "You just _had_ to pick a fight with the Warriors who currently appear to be the physical embodiment of all the elemental and celestial power in the universe. Not smart. Well, I got just one question for ya." I stretched out my free hand. "Do you fell _lucky?_ Well,_ do_ ya_punks?"_ [AN: I love that line! ^_^]

Starfire streamed from my hand and filled the chamber, white-hot as Li fed me energy and I channeled it into our shared aspect of power—one of the six elements was cosmos, the material of the stars. My power came from the stars. That was our connection. The burning material seared away the darkness as eleven voices howled into oblivion. As soon as the light cleared away, eleven piles of ash marked where the DarkLords had stood.

Only eleven.

I transitioned back to normal, the gold fading away. There was no ash at the new throne. "Where's Hei Long?"

"I don't know." He narrowed his eyes, trying to sense her power. I used my Mercury magic to locate her.

Its answer was horrific: she was in Tomoeda.

"She's in Tomoeda! We've got to go after her!" I seized his hand and he nodded. Using the fastest transportation spell I knew, I got us out of there and we arrived ten seconds later. She was waiting for us. In her taloned hands was a knot of dark power, as strong as an atom bomb. "I will talk to the boy now," she snapped as a crimson bubble surrounded them.

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****

Li

I waited inside the sphere, folding my arms and shooting her the glare that usually made people run away to mask my nervousness. For a long moment, she didn't say anything, only smiled a horrible, cruel smile, watching me like a predator watches prey before a kill.

Finally, she spoke. "Do you know what this is, boy?" She held up the chunk of dark power, sneering when I didn't respond. "This is a piece of power strong enough to kill you. Permanently. That excuse for a Warrior can only raise you from the dead with sun-power once. 

"And," she continued, "this is enough power to kill everyone in that town. The problem is, you festering little rodent, I can't decide which to do, because there isn't enough power to go around. See, you, take more power to kill, even when you aren't resisting, because you've got magic. So you get to choose. Either you go, or everybody in the city dies, including Sakura's family. And friends So which will it be?" She let go of the power and it hovered in front of me. "If it's you, touch it. If it isn't, just walk away and I won't bother you again." She cackled at the last comment.

I stared numbly at her. Choose? I had to choose between my life and everybody in Tomoeda's? Eyes stared into mine—phantom eyes. Faces flashed in my vision, staring accusingly at me. I saw Tomoeda as a smoking ruin.

I also saw Sakura, sobbing her broken heart out and holding my body, left alone to face Hei Long. I knew she could defeat her, but would Hei Long take advantage her shock?

I didn't know. I was torn between hurting Sakura by leaving her and breaking her heart by choosing to live. 

More and more familiar faces spun past. I thought back on times when I'd been the star of the soccer team, times when people were nice to me simply because I was human. Sakura's family and friends were in that town. _You swore to protect her from pain and suffering, no matter what,_ my conscience insisted. _You said you'd shield her as best you could._

There was no choice. I had no right to live at the cost of so many lives.

I seized the shadowy power and pain threaded my veins.

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[AN: Okay, who was expecting that? Come on, really? I'll bet you were thinking I would kill off Sakura, cuz Li already died and it was her turn, and there's be some sappy "bringing her back with his love" thing. One word: Cliché! I'm fairly certain that nobody's ever killed Li twiceonce, maybe, but twice...anyway, back to the story!]

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Sakura

I watched desperately, pressed against the impenetrable sphere. Hei Long floated the power in front of Li, where it drank in any light and reflected none. He stared at her and at the sphere, stricken and unmoving. After a minute—or was it an eternity?—he shut his eyes and seized the black ball. An amazed look crossed Hei Long's face, but it was fleeting, and as black thread shot up Li's arm she threw her head back and laughed. The shield vanished and I stumbled forward. Li's eyes opened as he started to fall. I caught him gently and eased him to the ground. _"What have you done?"_ I demanded, tears streaming down my face and splashing onto my tattered dress.

"He's killed himself," Hei Long said, still laughing. "He's chosen his death over everyone in your town's."

__

"No!" I shouted. Turning to him, I whispered, "Say it isn't true..."

"Sakura...I...love you." His head fell forward onto his chest. He was gone, and I knew all too well that my sun power couldn't bring him back.

"No! _No! **No!**_" I shrieked, shaking him in desperation. "Come back!" I shook him harder, crying so hard I could hardly see, but it didn't help. My eyes emptied themselves of tears, but the fury was still growing. I whipped around and screamed at Hei Long. "You killed him! You killed Li!"

"Li?" A horrified look crossed her face. "No. Li?!"

I truly hated for the first time in my life. I hated her, with a deep, fiery passion. It was a new emotion to me.

My power swelled, and a truth came to me.

Lady Hei Long was not from the past: she was from the future. Her father and mother had come from planets outside of the solar system, her father an evil man [AN: Of course the man is evil! What else would you expect?] and her mother a good woman. Thus, she was born as Ryu, a child with an evil side and a good side. A noble in the Neo-Jupiter domain of Earth, she had come to the court for the first time and fell in love with Li. While I was away, she would advance on him, but he refused to have a relationship with her. Finally one day she asked him outright if he could love her at all, and he said no, I was the only one for him. Heartbroken, Hei Long's evil half overtook her completely and bound her good deep within her soul. What was left became Hei Long, Lady of the Black Dragon, and fled to the past. She swore her vengeance on me and consumed the souls of many to build her magic ability. Far down inside of her, the good still existed, but the only way to truly free it was to kill her. Knowing that, Hei Long avoided death at all costs. She settled on Jupiter and undermined my reputation in court.

Metallia put a kink in her plans, but left behind twelve sorcerers with a lot of power. Hei Long had purposely aided her in destroying me and my family without Metallia noticing, just for kicks. Knowing my strength, she bent the DarkLords to her command and increased their powers, then waited for my appearance.

My new knowledge was a shock, but it only made me even more infuriated. The "Black Dragon" was little more than a fancy title for the forces of Chaos, and they'd used the girl who had been Ryu as a tool. The evil half was holding the good half prisoner, and I had to free it. There was more emotion ripping through my heart than ever before, making my powers surge. Somehow, I'd transitioned into the Warrior without noticing, and now my magic was fueled by the fire of my emotions. I would have revenge for my family, my friends, and my love. The heat flared into the white-hot fire I'd felt when I first unlocked the potential and when I had become the Warrior for the first time. By now I knew it signaled another change.

I was the Warrior. I was the harbringer of vengeance from the past to the destroyer of me and my life. I was the Jupiter High Princess once again.

Stretching out my arms, I opened my mind to all the magic in the universe and called.

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****

Senshi/3rd person

Back at the ball, Makoto struggled fiercely to pry herself free from Minako and Rei's restraining holds on her arms. "Let—me—_go!_" she growled through clenched teeth.

"Makoto, _get a grip._ We don't know where she is right now, and we can't waste power transporting all over the world trying to find her!" Tears glistened in Rei's eyes as she added softly, "She's like my little sis too, but there are people here who don't even have a tenth of the power she does, and they need help. She's very powerful, and if she needs us,. she'll call on us. All we can do is help these people and wait."

And so, with a sigh, Makoto started helping free people trapped under rubble nearby. The Senshi worked long into the night assisting the guests, but by the next morning, they had all gone home, the ballroom was cleaned out and restored, and there was nothing to do but sleep; so they did. Makoto was the last to wake at about three o'clock, and she joined the group that waited in Usagi's room. Waiting for what, nobody was sure, but it was an unspoken essential that they _must_ wait, so they stayed in a silent, tense little knot. A little past sunset, they were jolted from their quiet by an immense flare of power, far, far away. "They've become the Warrior," Setsuna said blandly. No one had to ask who they' were. 

The battle had begun.

Flickers of power wildly tossed the magic currents of the world, but they wouldn't affect anything. 

A flare of magic was almost eclipsed by another one as someone transported hurriedly nearer to the mansion than they had been. A second spell followed close on the first's heels. For a moment, all was silent' on the magical plane as the currents settled. Then there was a burst of dark energy, mingled with life energy that was awfully familiar.

Rei gasped. Mars magic dealt deeply with the spirit, and she could tell whose was whose That wasn't any normal life energy. "She....she..." Rei stumbled over the words. "She killed Li."

There was shocked silence; then it came.

The Call roared over the surface of the earth, tugging at the hearts and minds of anyone with any power, potential or manifested; the sense of agonizing need was prevalent as everyone saw in their minds the young girl, stretching her arms to the sky and pleading with them for their strength. Not a single soul hesitated in sending their magic to the giant pool that was Sakura.

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****

Sakura

__

There has to be something she doesn't expect from me, I thought, my mind racing. _But **what?**_ The magic was pouring in from everywhere, a giant mass of light, all the colors of the rainbow. Hei Long was unimpressed.

As I watched the power culminate overhead, I felt something heat up at the base of my throat. With a start, I realized it was the Key of Star. I had worn it under my dress out of habit The cord vanished as it got warmer and warmer. The Key floated in front of me and began to spin, faster and faster as it shone white. A wind whipped my Meatball Head hair into a frenzy. Then the light of the Key exploded, and in its place was a shining stone—or was it? I took it and, upon closer inspection, found it to be the sun and moon's combined images, with eight tiny gems set into the edge, each with a planet's symbol etched into it. There was no name for it; I would call it the Celestial Key for a little while. It would take any magic in the world and turn it into either Celestial or Clow Magic. I needed no chant to change it into a staff that was almost as tall as I was.

As soon as it had extended its full length, all the magic in the sky started draining into its tip. I struggled to hold up under all the magic–the weight was almost crushing. My breath came in ragged gasps, and I forced my arms to stay up, but everything was all too much and I knew I couldn't last much longer. I needed something to do with the power and _fast._

Concentrating as hard as I could, the answer came to me: I could use the power to create cards that would help me somehow. The catch was that I wouldn't know what the cards would be—higher powers were at work and they would determine them. It was my only chance.

"Celestial power!" I shouted. "Aide me as you will!"

And then the pressure all but tripled. Now it was almost impossible to breath; it was taking every scrap of power I had to force the magics to do as I wished, and yet it seemed I might fail. My arms were now in an agony of pain–some of the magic was flowing through them. And then they started to buckle under all the strain. I nearly cried from despair, but all my tears were gone.

Then Moon/Sun sphere that capped the staff glowed a fierce, shining white that struck a chord in my memory. The air shattered suddenly as the Earth itself gave me its magic and a shining white streak of power flowed from nowhere. 

__

Li, I realized. _His magic is white._

I found that I could still cry after all.

Ghostly arms helped mine hold up the staff as I blinked back tears, not daring to look behind me. A voice whispered in my ear, _"I love you,"_ and then the sense of him was gone as two cards dropped from the air, fluttering into my hands.

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3rd Person

Tori shook himself, chills creeping up his spine. The wind shrieking through the tree branches felt odd somehow, like the sense he had had five minutes ago. Something seemed to tug at his heart, but there was no magic left...was there? Then, with a click, it was gone, and he was left at the window, dazed. _I hope Sakura's okay,_ he thought suddenly. _She had tough times ahead of her when she left._

Madison stared out the window, out towards the hills overlooking the town. Something was going on up on the top of one of them—a minute ago, there had been a flare of light, and now the peak of the hill was shimmering. Ropes and streams of multi-colored fire seemed to streak across the sky at intervals, but they faded in and out of her vision. To her surprise, a lavender one was spinning out of herself, but for some reason she wasn't scared.

Then the brightest flare yet split the sky. At its center was a figure; Madison strained to make it out but couldn't. Suddenly, the magic swept her mind up and took her to the figure, where it was culminating. It was a much-changed, but still familiar Sakura.

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****

Sakura

The two cards strained in my grasp, caught by the breeze. The Life Card was the first one, with the picture of the sun on it. The power emanating from it was incredible, and as I watched the sun's image shifted into that of...me. The second one, the Death Card, showed a circle with the symbol of Pluto inside, and the image changed to the dark silhouette of a person. I threw the Death Card straight into the air and thrust the staff up. "Death Card! Release!" The card fell flat on the point with a crack. A dark shadow slowly crept over Hei Long.

__

"No! You can't do this to me! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" As the shadow consumed her, she grew paler and paler, until she collapsed. There was a blinding flash of light, and a pearly-white form rose from her body. It was a sorrowful, yet joyful young woman, oddly similar to the Mirror Card. _Hei Long's good half,_ I realized. She drifted over to Li's fallen body at my feet, tears in her eyes. Ryu gently brushed his cheek with a ghostly fingertip, then straightened. A single tear fell, but it vanished before it could hit the ground. _"I'm sorry," _she whispered. _"Thank you." _Mist gathered around her form, and when it had cleared she had gone.

I had one card yet to use. There was enough power left in the staff and in me to control it—or so I hoped.

I swung the Celestial Staff over my head and threw the card into up. It shot up, then fell and contacted the point of the wand with a flash of green light. "Life Card! Release!" 

The power in it struggled, fighting my directions. It wanted to break free and scatter everywhere, like leaves on the wind, but I wouldn't let it. Instead, I forced it towards Li. It connected with a jolt and flowed into him, making his heart beat again and restoring what Hei Long's power had taken away. Li was alive.

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[AN: It's 12:40 now....my fingers are cramping...I swear, I took a half hour break and that's it. It's the only break I've taken since 7:30. My hands are dead. I...can't...go...on...No! Must continue....for...sake of readers!... sotired...]

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3rd person

Rita, Nikki, and Chelsea watched the flashes of light coming from the hilltop with mingled fear and fascination. "What do you think is up there?" Rita asked, awed.

"I don't know, but whatever it is...." Chelsea trailed off.

Nikki grinned suddenly with delight. "Maybe it's ghosts! Or dragons or sorcerers!"

"Nikki, sorcerers and wizards and magic _aren't_ real," Chelsea sighed. "You know that. But maybe we can see what is really up there—Rita, do you have your binoculars?" At Rita's nod, she continued, "Then see if you can tell what it is. Anyway, the idea that there's magic or sorcerers is probably just about as true as..." she struggled for the right example, then found it. "As the notion that _Sakura_ is the most powerful sorcerer of them all!" Chelsea and Nikki laughed at_ that _ridiculous idea as Rita squinted through the binoculars.

"When is she coming back, anyway?" Nikki asked.

"Umm...Chelsea?" Rita said uncertainly.

"Mr. Terada said she decided to stay the year, so she should be back soon."

"Yeah, well, she's _here_," Rita said, her eyes huge in her face as she thrust the binoculars into her hands. "Take a look!"

Chelsea took the binoculars and pointed them at the glowing hilltop. There was a green, shining figure, but it was fuzzy. She adjusted the focus and looked again. There, with waist-length hair, in an odd dress, and standing over _Li's_ body was Sakura. She was radiating a light bright as the sun and looking extremely pissed as she raised a staff into the sky. A flare of light nearly blinded Chelsea. 

The binoculars fell to the floor with a clatter. _"Nikki?!"_ Chelsea whispered, her face white. _"Nikki, maybe you were right...."_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I sat down on the ground, my breath quick and harsh. I was actually not too tired, which was surprising. 

After I'd rested for a moment, I grabbed Li's wrist and mentally teleported us to the mansion. The servants found me dragging Li back to his room and helped me get him onto a bed. I sat and waited for him to wake up as they left.

An hour passed, and he didn't move. Then another passed, and another, and I still didn't leave as he stayed unconscious. I waited. He was going to wake up. I'd brought him back to life. He was supposed to wake up. He was _going_ to wake up.

The Senshi ran in, and Makoto wrapped me in a bear hug, along with everybody but Rei. She was staring at Li.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling my stomach start to knot.

Rei looked around at everybody. "Can I speak with her alone?" They nodded, and she sat down hard in a chair, resting a her head in her hands. Finally, she said, "Sakura, he's...not there."

"What do mean?" I asked as my heart plummeted.

"The lights are on, but nobody's home. His soul isn't there. _He_ isn't there."

"Where is he, then?" I demanded, alternately devastated, furious, and heartbroken. "Dammit, I got him alive! He's supposed to wake up! _Do something! _You say he's gone? Bring him_ back,_ then!"

"Sakura, there's nothing you or I can do," Rei said gently. "He's gone to the Spirit World."

"Well, I'm getting him back!" I said fiercely, gripping his limp hand in mine.

"You can't! There's no way to do it!" Something flickered in her eyes, and I could tell she was hiding something.

"There is, isn't there?" I asked softly. "You know a way."

"Well...." She slumped in her chair. "Yes. There is. I don't know why I'm telling you this, Sakura. It's a very difficult spell. It requires utter focus and total concentration. People who've practiced magic for all of their lives failed to work it successfully. They paid for it with their lives. There's a big risk that you or Li won't be able to come back."

"I'll do it."

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****

Li

I waited with a sea of other people. Or more accurately, with their spirits. The real world was far behind me, now that I'd come to the Spirit World. 

I didn't like that; and I _really_ didn't like the fact that Sakura was left alone to face Hei Long.

The silence was eerie. Nobody said anything, just waited, and while I didn't mind quiet this was bordering insanity. I ran a hand through my hair, worried about Sakura. I couldn't help her at all—Hei Long's spell had sent me straight here, and a spirit couldn't just walk out of the world.

Six columns of lights flared in front of me. They stretched to form six women, each tall and broad-shouldered and more powerful than I even wanted to think about. I stared in awe, realizing what was happening. They were the six Element Goddesses: Shanndyra FireDancer, Aiyanna WindSinger, Hylene SeaShaker, Terryanis StoneBlood, Vayeren StarHeart, and Taeyuriel SoulFire.

I bowed to them. Four inclined their heads graciously. The other two were too busy bickering to notice.

"I don't see why _you_ had to come!" a woman with pale blue eyes and long, straight silver hair snapped. "It's _my_ realm!"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Taeyuriel," snorted her red-haired and golden-eyed companion. 

"Shanndyra!" A woman with white-blond hair and pale gray eyes scowled and smacked her sister upside the head. "In case you didn't notice, we're here."

"I still don't know why you all had to come," Taeyuriel protested to the others. "I could have handled this on my own! I'm a Goddess!"

Shanndyra grinned. "She adores us. She definitely adores us."

"I don't!" Taeyuriel turned to face Shanndyra. "And I think that YOU in particular a pain in the ASS!"

That set her off. In a minute, they were arguing exactly like Rei and Usagi.

The other four—Aiyanna, Hylene, Terryanis, and Vayeren—sighed. "Hey!" Hylene tried to get her sisters' attention. It didn't work; they only continued hurling insults and shouting at eachother exactly what was wrong with the way the other ran the universe. "Hey!" They ignored their blue-haired sister; it was a mistake.

Terryanis walked over to them, her red eyes burning bright as lava against her dusky face, and leaned over, close to her sisters' ears. They didn't even notice, their noses two inches apart as they shouted obscenities. Taking a deep breath, the dark goddess bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

It worked. Taeyuriel straightened, saying, "If we may proceed?"

Vayeren rolled her eyes and she pretended not to notice. "Yes."

Taeyuriel faced me. "You wish to descend to Earth, do you not?"

I bowed and nodded. "Yes, Goddess."

Shanndyra scowled. "Cut the oh-all-mighty-goddess' crap, kid. We didn't design your soul to be a groveling little ninny." As odd as that comment sounded, it was true that they created each and every soul.

I nodded. "As you wish." Shanndyra raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"We have decided," Taeyuriel pointedly continued, "to grant your wish for a few minutes. Sakura needs assistance." They turned into the columns of light again, and a pit opened at my feet. I stepped into it without hesitation and plummeted headlong down its depths. I fell for what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes, then landed on Earth. My magic immediately went to Sakura, who was standing a few feet away and radiating sheer power but faltering. The staff she was holding up was shining like a star brought to Earth and emanating almost as much power as she was, but it looked like it was a struggle for her to just hold it up. I stood behind her, my hands going over hers and giving her my strength. Two things fell from the air in front of her a minute later; the task she had needed help with was done. I could feel myself being tugged back to the Spirit World already. "I love you," I said in her ear, knowing she probably couldn't hear. Then I was whisked back, hurtling up the dark tunnel. 

Soon, I was back in the gray of the Spirit World and dejected. Sakura had a loving heart; there was no doubt she'd find someone else and live a long, happy life. She probably wouldn't even remember me. It'd be another eighty years before I saw her, most likely, and she wouldn't even know me.

I waited, depressed, for the next few hours. Sometime soon, I would be chosen to have my heart judged, and I'd be placed in the fitting heaven or hell. More and more people came by the minute, but that wasn't too surprising. What bothered me was the silence.

Suddenly, icy blue light shot up from the ground under my feet, forming a column. A murmur arose from the other Spirits as something pale green appeared on the horizon, heading my way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I landed in the Spirit World—or at least, my soul did. I'd come here after doing what Rei had reluctantly told me to do: I'd concentrated on nothing and everything, letting myself think of everything and nothing at all. For a minute, it had felt like my mind would be ripped apart, but then I was flying up a dark tunnel, glowing pale green. After a minute, I shot out and found myself in a gray world—the domain of the Spirits. With a surge of hope, I scanned the vast crowd for Li but couldn't see him. I walked for a few minutes, then lost my patience. "Fly Card!" I whacked the card, but it gave me wings instead of the staff as the other spirits drew back, awed. I sighed, but flapped them and took off. "Li?" 

There was no response. Soaring over the masses, I tried to find him but had no luck. There were millions of people----how would I ever find him? A tear fell onto my hand, shining and sliding off, then disappearing. _Tear. Water. Mercury. _It hit me—magic obviously still worked here, which meant I could find him with it. "Mercury magic, find Li!" I gasped, putting more strength than I'd intended into the command. For an agonizing instant, there was nothing. Then a blue shaft of light speared the misty white sky far, far away. I shot toward it at top speed, not caring how disrupted the spirits below were. "Li!"

I flew faster than I ever had, getting closer and closer to him. 

There was a faint, incredulous shout. _"Sakura?"_

Then I was at the blue light and diving. The spirits scattered, except for one glowing faint white.

It was Li.

I landed in front of him, shrinking the staff at the same time. Surprisingly, my foot started to go through the ground. I glared at it and it solidified somewhat, the blue column of light fading. 

"What are you doing here?" He blanched. "She didn't kill you, did she?"

"No, I came here to get you. You can go back, you're alive."

"What?"

"I created a card to bring you back to life," I said with a shrug. "You're living right now, but your body needs its soul back."

"Oh."

There was a long pause. There was a question that had bothered me for too many months, and faced with the prospect that either of us might not be able to return, I couldn't hold it in. "Li?"

"Yeah?"

"When we were in the DreamWorld, on the eleventh night did you..." I faltered, knowing how stupid I was sounding.

"Have a strange dream?" he finished slowly. "Where you actually chose what happened, like being awake?"

"In a world with a lot of mist?" I said incredulously. He nodded. I bit my lip and continued, "Was...Kero in your dream?"

"Uh huh."

"Was I?"

He blushed. "Yeah."

It was true, then. We had met somehow in the World between Worlds, the night before he had died. "Did you mean it? What you said?"

"Every word," he said quietly.

"But you left me. You said you'd never leave me."

"Dammit, I didn't want to!" Li said fiercely. "I didn't want to come here! Hei Long's spell dragged me here and I only got out for a few minutes to help you!"

I believed him. In a moment, we'd closed the distance between us and would have embraced but I went right through him. "Come with me," I whispered. He couldn't take my hand, so we left side by side. The spirits parted silently, and we walked down the aisle they formed. Gradually, I began to feel more real, then I felt a hand slip into mine. Startled, I looked up and saw Li smiling at me. I smiled back, and an idea hit me. "Fly Card! Give us both wings!" He jumped in shock as wings sprouted from his back, and I giggled and flew up. He followed awkwardly, but after a little practice he got the hang of it and we soared through the sky together. The last thing I saw was a sort of boundary, signifying we were almost of the Spirit World.

Then we were back in our bodies. Rei rushed over to me, her eyes huge in her pale face. "Oh my god, Sakura, you actually did it!" I stood as she made me face her, hysteria making her babble. "Do you know how many people other than you have been able to do that in the past _century? **One!**_ _And it was me!_ And it nearly killed me!"

"Yeah..." I said dizzily. "I think I know why." The walls were spinning all around me, which was never a good sign. Everything went black as I though ruefully, _Not **again...**_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::collapses, panting:: I am waaayyyyy too tired right now...this thing is seventeen pages long, people, and I typed it all in a day...my ass hurts from sitting in this stupid broken chair...my back hurts from sitting in a chair with a back that's too low...my fingers are dead....AND I'VE STILL GOT ONE CHAPTER TO TYPE! IT ISN'T FAIR!!!!!!!!!

......

Well, I just did a lot of uploading...two chapters in 48 hours....so you might have to wait for the next one. It's the last, I swear it really is! As usual, comments and questions are welcomed! Feel free to e-mail me at any time saying anything; just send it to JadeFire35@aol.com. And if you have AIM, feel free to send me your s/n cuz I love to talk to people! Adiosity!


	6. Score, Sakura!

Shin no Chikara

Chapter Six: Score, Sakura!

Welcome to the last chapter of Shin no Chikara! Some of you might be wondering why I have this chapter. After all, there are no problems. Li and Sakura are together. They've admitted their love for each other. Both of them are alive. Both of them are safe. They've defeated the DarkLords, they're home, they've still got their power, and everybody's happy. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty!

To sum it all up, I felt kinda depressed after writing all of that dark, moody stuff, and that's where this chapter comes in. There's a little drama, but nothing major, and it's mostly short, sweet, and designed to make you laugh. Or at least try to make you laugh. Knowing my insane sense of humor, you probably won't get my so-called "jokes" But that's okay! I don't mind! This wasn't supposed to be a short, funny fic. Or a long, funny fic for that matter. ::gets smacked upside the head by imaginary friend who actually writes the stories:: Okay, I'll start the chapter already!

Disclaimer: Hey, I'm not saying no-no potty-mouth words in this one! Just thought I'd say that I OWN NOTHING IN THIS $(#^@$&(%$%&@*)$() $#@%^#*($)@&@*)#$%%%%%)@*$(@ $*@ $(+$^&&@)$%*^?(@ !@*$@&%*@)$#^@$(% @*@)$&@)%*(@@! %*@( $&~!$) (lots of swearing) FIC!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

****

Li

I caught Sakura as she fell, unconscious. "Not_ again,"_ Rei sighed. "What _is_ it with magic and fainting?" She called the others in, and they were all happy to see me awake (particularly Chibiusa), but rather dismayed to see Sakura out cold again. Makoto picked her up with ease and headed to her rooms, Sakura's protection sphere hovering over her. I could see the pinprick of green light flickering in it–she'd overdone herself again. With a sigh, I followed. It looked like another long wait–and it was. The first day was calm. The second day's mood was that of resignation. The third day, there was slight worry as Sakura continued to sleep. On the fourth day there was barely-contained panic. No one had ever slept for four days from overdrain before. 

The dawn of the fifth day found us waiting outside Sakura's bedroom, watching and waiting in shifts. Mei Lin, Ami, Hotaru, Chibiusa, and Haruka were resting, but in two hours they'd come and wait while we slept for six hours. We waited out that shift and returned when their six hours were over. None of them were tired, so they stayed with us. Sakura woke up an hour later.

Haruka had just peered into her room to check if she was awake. She told us later that she had looked in and automatically ducked back out, realizing after a moment that Sakura's eyes had been open. She did a double take and ran back in. "You guys, she's awake!"

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****

Sakura

I had the usual insane dreams for most of the time I was asleep, but at the end, I saw an image of Ryu, happy and free. She waved and smiled at me, and I opened my eyes to the familiar white canopy overhead. It didn't occur to me that I had drained myself, and I stupidly sat straight up. 

It felt like someone was driving railroad spikes into my temples. I yelled "AAAAGH!!!" and put my head between my knees. Someone grabbed my hand and the pain receded; I looked up to see Yelan, Mei Lin, Li, and the Senshi all gathered around my bed. Resting my chin on my knees, I said, "Hi everybody!"

"Sakura, you've been out for five days. Before that you had a phenomenal battle with the most powerful sorceress known to earth other than you, and after that you went all the way into the spirit world. You were kidnapped by being sucked into a Chaos-hole. You've become all powerful. We've been scared stiff about you for five days straight, and all you can say is _hi everybody'?_" Mei Lin demanded.

"I'm sorry, I usually don't get attacked by witches of doom," I said apologetically. "Next time, I'll–did you say I was out for five _days?!"_ She nodded, and I let that sink in, then asked, "Any casualties from the ball?"

"Nope," Makoto said matter-of-factly, "just a lot of people under benches and tables. The worst had a few broken bones."

There was an awkward pause, and then Minako did something that was half-cough, half-sneeze, and sounded oddly like _"Let'sleavethemalone!"_ The others turned to stare at her, and she jerked her head slightly at Li. 

"Uh....sounds like a nasty cough you've got there, Minako," Ami faltered as I felt my cheeks flush. 

Yelan stood up, her eyes twinkling. "I have medicine for it, but I forgot where it is. Shall we go find it?"

"I'll help," Mei Lin chimed in. Within moments, the room was totally empty except for Li and I. We were both a bright shade of red, but I really didn't mind.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

"Fine. I owe you."

"No you don't!" I said more fiercely than I had intended.

"Yes I do! You've brought me back to life _twice!_"

"So?" I could tell there was something bothering him, but what?

"But....why?"

"Look at me." He lifted his head. "You know the answer to that. I told you. I love you."

[AN: ::deranged ex-lover bursts in:: "I thought you said you would always be mine, Sakura! You said you would love me forever!"...maybe not, but it's an idea! And now, back to "All My Warriors." Today, Kelsey learns that Floyd has really been cheating on her with...her best friend! Gasp! The shock! The trauma! Moving on....]

"But why?"

"First of all, you said that already. And second, how the hell should I know? Why do you love me?"

I watched smugly as he struggled for words. "I–I–I–"

I silenced him by putting a finger to his lips. "Don't. You know how you feel; I feel the same way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

3rd Person

"Well? Show us already!"

"Yeah! Hurry up, Mei Lin! We're going to miss all the good stuff!

Mei Lin clutched her protection sphere and shot a glare at her harriers. "I'm _going_ already! Sphere, show us Sakura and Li."

"I'llgo get that medicine, shall I?" Yelan said, ducking into the workroom just as the crystal cleared. They were close...no, about to kiss.... 

"Score, Sakura! Score!" Makoto cheered. "Looks like Cards aren't the only thing she captures!"

"_Makoto!_" Rei scowled at her friend. "That's indecent!"

"What? And they're so kawaii together!"

"This is Venus 18, reporting to base." Minako mimicked a fighter pilot. "Cherry Blossom 14 is moving in on Little Wolf. Repeat, Cherry Blossom 14 is moving in. Wait a sec–we have contact! Repeat, we have contact!"

"Yeah!" Usagi crowed. "Go Sakura!"

"What?" everybody crowded around the sphere, to see Sakura and Li liplocked. "Awwww!"

"Will you look at that," Haruka said rather proudly.

"Score, Sakura!"

"MAKOTO!!!!"

Just then, a small yellow creature flew into the scene.

"Oh _no!_"

"KERO!"

"Ami, let's hear what they're saying!"

"Gotcha!"

"What are _you_ doing here, kid?" Kero's voice was a low, threatening growl.

"It's my house!"

"It's Sakura's room!"

"Your point is?"

"You shouldn't be here!"

"And why not?"

"You wanna fight?"

"Bring it on, stuffed animal!"

"What is Kero _doing?!_" Hotaru whispered to Ami.

"You'll see," she said, suppressing a grin with difficulty. Within a moment, Kero had transformed into his guardian form for the first time in this house.

"Kero, knock it off!" Sakura shouted angrily.

"No way!" He shifted into a fighting stance.

"Kero!" Sakura yelled, and the next thing they saw was him pinned to the wall by glowing, green-tinged yellow power. "I _said_ knock it_ off!_ Will you _stop?_" Kero nodded, and she let him down "Good." She shot glares at both of them, then collapsed.

"Sakura!" Li rushed over to her.

"Now look what you've done!" Kero snarled.

"What _I've_ done?! You're the one who started it!"

"As entertaining as this is, I think we'd better intervene," Michiru said wryly. 

"Right," Rei added. "But we _never_ saw _any_ of this. We have no clue what happened."

They trouped down to Sakura's room, where Li and Kero were about to start fighting again.

"Stop!" Makoto yelled. She demanded accusingly, "Which one of you made her use magic already?"

"He did!" They pointed at each other simultaneously. 

"What?! You started it!"

"You didn't _have_ to fight!"

"Shut UP, both of you!" Mei Lin snapped. "It's YOUR fault Sakura's knocked out again! Haven't you done enough damage already?" She stalked over to Li. "YOU know better than to fight with him!" Mei Lin whirled around in time to catch Kero sticking his tongue out at Li. "And _you_ should know better than to pick a fight with not only a trained fighter but one of Earth's strongest magicians! Some Guardian Beast you are----your mistress is _unconscious_ because you couldn't leave a friend of hers alone!" They both stared at the ground, ashamed. "Get out of this room NOW!"

Neither of them needed any further convincing. Both of them had seen what happened when Mei Lin got mad, and it wasn't pretty. Li paused at the door, but she bellowed, "GET OUT!" and he was gone.

"All right!"

"Go Mei Lin!"

"Bitch Monster from Hell!"

"You go, girl!" The Senshi cheered her, trying to hide their laughter and failing. A moment later, Sakura sat up dazedly.

"What's going on?"

Li poked his head inside the door but Mei Lin screamed, "OUT! STAY _OUT!_" and he vanished.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Sakura asked confusedly.

"No," Mei Lin said grimly. "Not at all."

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****

Sakura

I was a little confused about why she was being so mean to Li [AN: although, compared to what I do, Mei Lin's work is NOTHING], but then everything was explained to me and it was actually very funny. We were all laughing about it when Yelan walked in. "May I speak with Sakura alone?"

The others nodded and left, throwing curious looks over their shoulders.

"So.... what is it?" I asked once the door was shut.

"Well, first of all, congratulations. The very fact that you defeated the DarkLords is amazing enough. I thank you for saving Li, too. Second, I have a question for you. The Senshi have taught you all they know; the DarkLords are gone. Do you want to go home? It's been a delight having you here, but I would more than understand if you wanted to leave." She smiled wryly. "For one thing, people wouldn't stop in their tracks like deer in the headlights because you're walking past."

I returned her rueful smile. She'd seen right through me–I did want to go home. Actually, I wanted a normal life, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. "I–I think I do want to go home." 

"Very well. We'll miss you of course, and you will always be welcome here. Always." She stood up. "I'm going to make arrangements for your plane ride. We can't raise suspicions by using a transportation spell." 

I thought about that for a minute as she left. I was going to have to watch myself from now on. It had become instinct to float an object into my hands, or create an orb of light when it was too dark for me to see, but I couldn't do that in Tomoeda. Maybe I'd get a little rusty from not using my magic.

"Ye who does major ass-kickage," Makoto said loftily, addressing me as Mei Lin and the rest of the Senshi came back in, "we have to ask. What was that all about?"

"I'm–I decided to go home," I replied, realizing that meant I might not see them for a while. There was a loud thump from the wall. We all looked at it and at each other, then laughed. [AN: Everybody was like o.O]

"It's been almost a year, and if I don't go back they'll think I died or something."

"Yeah, well, we'll be writing you all the time, and be prepared for a visit. The Senshi may make a guest appearance at your school and give you some serious bragging rights." Usagi grinned.

"Sounds good," I laughed. Knowing them _would_ make me a school celebrity, but I seriously doubted they'd come all the way just to impress my classmates. 

My power was returning swiftly, and by supper time I felt more than strong enough to join everyone. Yelan informed me that my flight was scheduled for ten o' clock in the morning, two days from now. Li stared at his plate all through dinner; when I helped clear the dishes away I saw he'd barely touched his food. The Senshi were leaving two days after I was, much to Mei Lin's sorrow. She and Chibiusa had gotten along fairly well.

For the next day, I was busy packing. My old clothes I'd originally taken mysteriously reappeared, and I was stuffing them into a suitcase when I came across the outfit I'd bought for the plane trip here. With bittersweet amusement, I remembered how scared I'd been when the guitar case had almost hit Li. Not even ten months had passed, but things had changed so much for me that it seemed an eternity. I had left my old practice in the wardrobe originally, but Yelan insisted I take them and added that I should keep space in my suitcase for something else. The next afternoon, Mei Lin walked in with a pile of green silk and handed it to me. It was the dress I'd worn to the ball, now cleaned and faultlessly mended. I didn't want to take something that was so expensive, but Mei Lin said it was a gift from Yelan. You never, _ever _refused a gift from Yelan, if you knew what was good for you.

I was done packing by dinner. Again, Li only picked at his food, and I got worried After dinner I headed to his rooms and tapped on the door. "Li, it's Sakura."

There was a pause, then I heard a muffled "Come in."

I leaned uncomfortably against the doorjamb and asked, "Are you okay? You've hardly touched your food for the past two days, and–" I broke off, noticing the absence of bags in the room. "Aren't you packed yet?"

"I...I'm not going." Li sounded tired. "I've got to stay with my family. There's no reason for me to go back."

"What?" I asked, hardly believing my ears. "What are you saying?"

"I'm not going back to Tomoeda."

"But...why not?" I gasped, trying to regain some composure. 

"There's no reason for me to go back," he repeated, looking away.

"What about me?" I cried. "What about _us?"_

"I don't know, Sakura. I just–don't know."

"You mean you don't_ care._" My voice had turned ice cold. "You don't care about anybody but yourself!" Tears filled my eyes as I ran down the hall, not waiting to hear his response.

The next morning dawned cold and foggy. I numbly went through the motions of bathing and dressing. Breakfast was a tensely quiet affair–the Senshi seemed to sense that something was wrong between Li and I, and talk was scarce. After the quiet meal, I went to my rooms and tried to pick up my suitcases but couldn't. My powers hadn't come all the way back yet, and I was still too drained to try to float them down. _Li might help,_ I thought involuntarily. That set me off. I was _not_ going to ask for _his_ help. With an immense effort, I wrapped my hands around the handles and somehow lugged the bags down to the driveway. A car was waiting at the curb, but when I got there my strength was gone. _I have to do this myself,_ I thought stubbornly. Steeling myself, I strained to lift them. The smaller of the two came up, but the larger one didn't budge. Suddenly, a hand grasped the handle and tugged. 

It was Li. He silently swung the suitcase into the open trunk, then reached for the other one, but I had already thrown it in. I went back to give everybody on the steps hugs, said my good-byes, and with a last, pain-filled look to Li, I started to get into the car. A voice in my head was shrieking at me, saying, _Apologize now or you'll never get the chance again! What are the odds you'll be able to say you're sorry to him again?** Ever?!**_ I ignored it and slammed the car door shut. As it pulled away, I steadily stared forward and refused to let my unshed tears fall. 

It wasn't until I was on the plane and more than halfway gone that I realized my mistake. The truth sank into me. I would never see him again. If I'd apologized when I left, I might have been able to face him again. True, Yelan had said I would always be welcome at her home. But I wouldn't be able to face Li. If only I'd apologized...

But now, it was too late. I was more than halfway there. I couldn't turn back now. 

I shook with silent sobs, hiding my face from the other passengers by staring steadily out the window until my tears had dried.

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****

Li

"Sakura..." I whispered. She was really gone. Fighting the urge to run after the car, I forced myself to turn away and go back inside. I had thought that if I'd gone with her, she wouldn't be able to live anything close to a normal life. I'd be a constant reminder that she wasn't who people thought she was.

But now I was having second thoughts.

The hurt in her eyes when I had told her I wasn't going had been normal enough.

Pain filled me, and I could hardly see as I returned to my rooms purely from memory. I spent the next two days there, eating alone and half-heartedly practicing whatever came to me, trying to keep my mind off of her. It was almost worse than being dead in a way.

The second morning after she left, I got a visitor. The Senshi would be leaving in a few hours; I hadn't planned on leaving my rooms until then.

There was a knock on the door. I looked up to see Mother standing in the entryway and said wearily, "Come in."

"Li, there's been a problem that's been bothering me for a few days now," she said blandly, sitting down on the bed next to me as I cleaned an invisible spot on my sword. "Could you help me?"

"I can try," I said dully.

"Well, the problem is this such. Whenever someone with large powers is discovered, an equally magic-gifted member of the Clan is sent to represent out family and watch over them. That member is very close to their charge, acting as partner and friend. My dilemma is that no one in out Clan is strong enough to stick with Sakura, and if anything happens to her, all fingers will be pointed at us for not sending someone. Or at least, _almost_ no one is strong enough." She gave me a pointed look; I got the message.

"So I'm the Clan representative?" I asked incredulously. "You're sending me to stay in Tomoeda?"

"I'm glad you volunteered," she replied, her eyes twinkling. "And not necessarily; you just have to be wherever she is."

"Right...." I said dazedly, barely masking my joy. "I can do it."

"I knew you could help me. Be ready to go in two hours–you leave with the Senshi."

Two hours had never taken longer to pass for me. It seemed an eternity, but finally I was standing in the center of the circle of Senshi We were waiting for Minako to arrive when Makoto dragged her in, literally by the hair, and shoved her into place.

"Ready?" Usagi asked.

"Ready," Setsuna confirmed. They started to glow, and I fed them energy. Fire sparkled at the edge of their figures, but something was wrong. I wasn't glowing. "Oh no!" Makoto shouted. "We forgot Li!"

"Too late! We–" Someone's voice was cut off as they vanished and I was left standing in an empty courtyard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AN: Feel free at any time to tell me that I'm evil; you and I both know it.]

****

Sakura

"Sakura!" Madison ran and hugged me as soon as I got off the plane. "Whatever happened to just staying the summer?"

"Hey, squirt." Tori ruffled my hair gruffly. "Like the new look."

"You look like Nadeshiko," Dad said warmly. "Welcome back." 

I was fairly quiet the trip back, but Madison demanded the details as soon as we were alone. I told her the story, cutting out the fact that I'd been the student of the Senshi. That, in itself, was too unbelievable. She made me tell her all about the big battle, but I had to swallow a lump in my throat when she asked about Li. She must've seen, because she asked softly, "You fell in love with him, didn't you?"

I nodded, blinking back tears and trying to mask my sadness. "Isn't it a shame?" I joked half-heartedly. "He...had to stay with his family, and I got mad at him for it. I still need to apologize, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to."

"Oh, wow..." Madison sighed, stars in her eyes. "It's like a romantic movie..."

I laughed at that. "Yeah, only I'm not that positive about the ending."

The next day, we went shopping. I was getting some pudding for Kero when Madison spotted Chelsea, Rita, and Nikki. "Hey, you guys!" I shouted.

"Sakura!"

"You're back!"

Chelsea and Rita were on their way over, but Nikki beat them by a long shot. She dragged me outside and to a nearby alley. "Tell me!" She said ecstatically. "Tell me what it's like to be a sorceress!"

__

"WHAT?!" I yelled.

"We saw you! On the hilltop!"

"Oh, no..." I moaned. "Nikki, you can't tell _anyone._"

"We haven't!" Her eyes shone with delight. "But you gotta tell me–are you the strongest in the world?"

"Not exactly," I sighed. Listen, we'd better go to Madison's. I'll explain there."

And so Chelsea, Rita, and Nikki found out. I told them the same story I'd told Madison and explained about the Cards, but skipped mentioning Li and the Senshi again. After all, who would believe me? They insisted I do a spell for them, so I grew a few lightning bolts.

The next day was a Sunday, and we went for a picnic in the park. It was nice to sit down and not worry about anything happening while I was gone, but it reminded me that I couldn't ever really go back to a normal life. I kept involuntarily looking over my shoulder, checking for Li and missing him more each minute.

"Oh yeah," Chelsea said excitedly "Mr. Terada got promoted, and he's our teacher this year."

"Cool," I said with a sigh. "Then I'll see him tomorrow."

"Madison, you didn't tell her about the school, did you?" Rita asked. At the shake of her head, she said, "The old school burned down last summer and we lost this year's lesson plan, so we basically covered last year's material. You're in luck!"

"Yeah," I said. "I am."

The new school was a lot like the old one, but cleaner. Mr. Terada welcomed me back, along with several of my old classmates.

"Sakura, your hair's so long!" one girl commented, picking up the end of my braid.

"Did you know that the braid was invented by the Chinese?" Zachary said matter-of-factly. "The empress used to have the longest hair of all, but people always stepped on it, so she braided it and tied it up."

I rolled my eyes, moving to my new seat by the window. A year older, and he still hadn't changed. There wasn't much of a view, because we were on the first level, but it was better than no view at all. Rita was right--we basically were repeating seventh grade. After some debate, I'd asked Ami for help with my math, and she had showed me how to work out problems far more complicated than the ones the rest of the class was working on. She'd also tutored me in everything else so I wouldn't fall behind. As a result, I knew all of the eighth grade material. I was bored even before the lesson began.

Right before we were dismissed for lunch, a harried-looking office aide bustled in and handed a note to Mr. Terada. He read it and smiled with amusement. "Good one, Lisa. I almost fell for it."

"No, sir!" She said, shaking her head violently. "They're really here! Look outside!"

I leaned over and looked out with interest, as did the rest of my classmates. My jaw dropped, then slowly I started to grin.

There stood the Senshi–in full uniform, no less, and looking high and mighty. Suddenly, Usagi pointed to me and started to wave. Faintly, I heard shouts of "Hi, Sakura!" and "Sakura, over here!"

My face got very hot, and I looked around to see everyone in the room gaping at me, wide-eyed. There was total silence until Mr. Terada cleared his throat and said weakly, "Miss Avalon, your–er–friends are here to see you. They specifically requested that you come to meet them, so you are excused from class today."

I gathered my books into my bag, then swung it over a shoulder, settled my cap on my head, and walked out of the room with a wink to Madison and a cheery "See ya!"

I ran out to the courtyard. "You guys!" I called, striding over to them. "You should have told me you were coming!"

"Sorry, Sakura," Minako said with a grin. "We had a delivery to make."

"What do you–" Ami and Rei stepped apart, and I sucked in a breath.

It was Li.

It was all I could do to stare at him for a long moment, my jaw hanging almost to the ground. Neither of us moved.

"Oh, honestly, Sakura," Makoto sighed. "Do something!" When I struggled to move but failed, she commented, "You look like a carp that way, and frankly, the look doesn't suit you."

Very aware that everyone in the school was watching, I walked up to him, seized the front of his shirt, and yanked him closer, planting a long kiss on his lips.

"Hoo-whee!" I heard Nikki yell.

"Alright!"

"Score, Sakura!" 

More cheers broke out from the classrooms. Makoto grinned. "I _like_ that girl's style." Rei rolled her eyes but said nothing.

We unwillingly broke apart, and I whispered, "I hope I'm forgiven."

He answered that with another kiss.

"You'd better take good care of him, Sakura," Usagi joked. "I mean, after all of the effort we went through to get him here, we'd like him to live a few days."

There were a few mutters from one of the classrooms. "How long are they going to keep that up?" "I hope neither of them has mono" "Don't they need to _breathe_ sometime soon?" 

With a laugh, I pulled away. "I'm staying," he said softly. 

"Wonderful," I whispered. "Can't wait to break the news to Tori....I've got the rest of the day off," I added to the others, "so why don't we have a picnic? I can make it."

"Sounds good to me!"

"Same here!"

We walked away, but right before we got out to the gate I turned and blew a kiss to everybody crammed at the windows, shouting, "Bye everybody!" We were almost out when there was a last, faint shout.

__

"Score, Sakura!"

I turned red, Makoto grinned, Chibiusa giggled, and Rei smacked her forehead, growling, "Keep walking. Just–keep walking."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So did anybody figure out what phrase I used each chapter? If you didn't, it's "It was Li." I don't know why, but I accidentally kept using it again and again, and I only discovered it when I was reading it over. I was actually tempted to title this chapter "It Was Li" but I think "Score, Sakura!" works better. ^ ^;

::slumps over desk:: I think I'm going to sleep now, for a very long time, cuz it's 12:18 in the morning and I've been typing sinceum...eighteen hours ago..... Yeah, people, it's done! Finite! That's all, folks! Unless....

Anybody want a sequel? 

E-mail me or review, even if what you have to say isn't so nice. And I'm serious about the sequel: I _will_ write it if you say so! Your wish is my command; it just may take a while. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every person who reviewed this, and even the people who just read it. Everybody is so nice! I couldn't have done it without all your guys' support! THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO ALL OF YOU!

One final word....

~Adiosity!


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